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definitions

grass cloth

or grass·cloth

noun
  1. a fabric made from tough vegetable fibers, used for table linens, wall coverings, etc.

Origin of grass cloth

First recorded in 1850–55
Also called Canton linen, China grass cloth.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for canton linen

Historical Examples of canton linen

  • It is famous for its breed of pigs, and is noted as a centre for the manufacture of fans and grass-cloth.

  • Captain Bennett rose, and drew on a grass-cloth coat that showed his suspenders through.

    Five Hundred Dollars

    Heman White Chaplin

  • Grass-cloth was also sometimes used as a medium of exchange, and prices were quoted in terms of it.

    Japan

    Various

  • The famous Chinese grass-cloth is manufactured by the old method of hand-looms.

  • This he had bound up, whilst swimming, with a strip of his grass-cloth girdle.

British Dictionary definitions for canton linen

grass cloth

noun
  1. a cloth made from plant fibres, such as jute or hemp
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012