CALICO (calicoes)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: calicoes   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does calico mean? 

• CALICO (noun)
  The noun CALICO has 1 sense:

1. coarse cloth with a bright print

  Familiarity information: CALICO used as a noun is very rare.

• CALICO (adjective)
  The adjective CALICO has 2 senses:

1. made of calico or resembling calico in being patterned

2. having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly

  Familiarity information: CALICO used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CALICO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Coarse cloth with a bright print

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("calico" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

Derivation:

calico (having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly)

• CALICO (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Made of calico or resembling calico in being patterned

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

a calico cat

Pertainym:

calico (coarse cloth with a bright print)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly

Synonyms:

calico; motley; multi-color; multi-colored; multi-colour; multi-coloured; multicolor; multicolored; multicolour; multicoloured; painted; particolored; particoloured; piebald; pied; varicolored; varicoloured

Context example:

pied daisies

Similar:

colored; colorful; coloured (having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination)

Derivation:

calico (coarse cloth with a bright print)

 Context examples 

He was nude to the waist, with a pair of white calico drawers, white silk stockings, and running shoes.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each put on a coarse straw bonnet, with strings of coloured calico, and a cloak of grey frieze.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There is all the new calico, that was bought last week, not touched yet.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She upset the tray of needles, forgot the silesia was to be 'twilled' till it was cut off, gave the wrong change, and covered herself with confusion by asking for lavender ribbon at the calico counter.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She was then proceeding to all the particulars of calico, muslin, and cambric, and would shortly have dictated some very plentiful orders, had not Jane, though with some difficulty, persuaded her to wait till her father was at leisure to be consulted.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I suppose, Miss Temple, the thread I bought at Lowton will do; it struck me that it would be just of the quality for the calico chemises, and I sorted the needles to match.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)