dimity

American  

[dim-i-tee] / ˈdɪm ɪ ti /

noun

• dimities
  plural

1. a thin cotton fabric, white, dyed, or printed, woven with a stripe or check of heavier yarn.

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dimity British  

/ ˈdɪmɪtɪ /

noun

1. 1. a light strong cotton fabric with woven stripes or squares

   2. ( as modifier )

      a dimity bonnet

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dimities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dimity

1400–50; earlier dimite, late Middle English demyt < Medieval Latin dimettum < Greek dímiton, noun use of neuter of dímitos double-threaded, equivalent to di- di- ¹ + mít ( os ) warp thread + -os adj. suffix; source of final syllable unclear

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dimity dimities

Mrs. Hoover appeared wearing a white and blue dimity gown modeled in the fashion of 1870 and copied from one of her mother's photographs.

From Time Magazine Archive

For hot summer afternoons batiste, dimity and organdy will be cool and fresh.

From Time Magazine Archive

Coop cooperated: he shied at couches and dimity all his life, but only on-camera.

From Time Magazine Archive

Marie Antoinette was a lovely martyr in white dimity and ash-gold hair; Louis, her royal spouse, a wistful dullard who would have made an honest artisan.

From Time Magazine Archive

Green dimity curtains hung over the windows in Theodora’s room, the wallpaper was decked with green garlands, the bedspread and quilt were green, the marble-topped dresser and the huge wardrobe were the same.

From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson

Real cotton goods were not made in Lancashire till 1641, when Bolton is named as the chief seat of the manufacture of fustians, vermilions and dimities.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 2 "Bohemia" to "Borgia, Francis" by Various

As early as 1643 the author of New England's First Fruits wrote: "They are making linens, fustians, dimities, and look immediately to woollens from their own sheep."

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle

Thomas Johns was a linen draper, sold silks, satinets, linen, and dimities, at his establishment in the Provinces, and was also a politician, and "went on" for the part of magistrate, occasionally.

From The Humors of Falconbridge A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes by Falconbridge

Are not organdies, dimities, and embroidered muslins fully as becoming to the women who trip daintily through the pages of men’s books?

From Threads of Grey and Gold by Myrtle Reed

It contains a voluminous list of useful domestic goods, presenting the most enormous bargains, in the way of sheetings, shirtings, flannels, diapers, damasks, dimities, table-cloths, &c. &c.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 434 Volume 17, New Series, April 24, 1852 by William Chambers