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This week's theme Toponyms from India This week's words golconda doolally jodhpurs calico tamarind Today's word in Visual Thesaurus Roll the dice Get a random word from A.Word.A.Day archives Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg calico 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: 1. Made from such a cloth. 2. Having a spotted pattern. 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. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: In politics, absurdity is not a handicap. -Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician (1769-1821)

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