bandana

plural bandanas · alternative bandanna · alternative bandanno · alternative obsolete bandannoe

1. A large kerchief, usually colourful and used either as headgear or as a handkerchief, neckerchief, bikini, or sweatband.

   One cure for a headache involved binding the stalk of the herb crosswort to the head with a red bandana[.]

   1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 126

   1 more example

   Neighbours now came hurrying in, and one after another missed some trifling article of property which the deceased was known to have possessed. There were three thin spoons, real silver, on which she greatly prided herself; they were gone. A large silver watch, together with a red silk shawl and a Bandana handkerchief, very regular parts of her Sunday attire, were also not to be found.

   1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Knife, page 123

2. A style of calico printing, in which white or bright spots are produced upon cloth previously dyed a uniform red or dark colour, by discharging portions of the color by chemical means, while the rest of the cloth is under pressure.