jan 1, 1541 - drab

Description:

A word for a kind of cloth. First noted in 1541 in Lancashire (OED), it features regularly much later: 1813 <i>Accounts of pieces making ... one drab ... one mixture ... one olive ... one mottle</i>, South Crosland (GRD). Possibly synonymous with <i>drap</i> a word for cloth: the verb ‘to drape’ could mean to weave in the early fifteenth century. It is thought that it referred to a hempen, linen or woollen cloth of a natural undyed colour but when used attributively came to be used as a colour, dull light brown for example. One possible earlier reference is: 1457 <i>for ij clotthis off drabue Kollowes and j clothe whyt</i>, York (SS129/62).

Added to timeline:

Date: