'Calico printing' definitions:

Definition of 'Calico printing'

From: GCIDE
  • Calico \Cal"i*co\, n.; pl. Calicoes. [So called because first imported from Calicut, in the East Indies: cf. F. calicot.]
  • 1. Plain white cloth made from cotton, but which receives distinctive names according to quality and use, as, super calicoes, shirting calicoes, unbleached calicoes, etc. [Eng.] [1913 Webster]
  • The importation of printed or stained colicoes appears to have been coeval with the establishment of the East India Company. --Beck (Draper's Dict. ). [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: In the United States the term calico is applied only to the printed fabric. [1913 Webster]
  • Calico bass (Zool.), an edible, fresh-water fish ({Pomoxys sparaides}) of the rivers and lake of the Western United States (esp. of the Misissippi valley.), allied to the sunfishes, and so called from its variegated colors; -- called also calicoback, grass bass, strawberry bass, barfish, and bitterhead.
  • Calico printing, the art or process of impressing the figured patterns on calico. [1913 Webster]