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Dec 18, 2008
This week's themeToponyms from India This week's words golconda doolally jodhpurs calico tamarind Roll the dice Get a random word from A.Word.A.Day archives 
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with Anu Gargcalico
PRONUNCIATION:
(KAL-i-co)
MEANING:
noun:1. A brightly printed coarse cotton cloth. 2. (Mainly British) A plain white cotton cloth. 3. An animal having a spotted coat, especially with red and black patches.
adjective: ETYMOLOGY:
From Calicut, former name of Kozhikode, a city in southern India from where
this cloth was exported. Other words for clothes with Indian origins are
bandana, cashmere, chintz, dungarees, jodhpurs, khakis, madras, pajamas,
and seersucker (not all are toponyms).
USAGE:
"Before Mr. Homer's barefoot urchins and little girls in calico
sun-bonnets, straddling beneath a cloudless sky upon the national rail
fence, the whole effort of the critic is instinctively to contract
himself."John Updike, Homer's Epic: A Wonderful Painter With No Theory, The New Republic (Washington, DC), Feb 5, 1996. See more usage examples of calico in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In politics, absurdity is not a handicap. -Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician (1769-1821)
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