Canton flannel

plural Canton flannels · alternative canton flannel

1. countableuncountableA type of soft cotton fabric.

   The canton flannel gulls flew near and far.

   1897, Stephen Crane, The Open Boat, Gateway to the Great Books #3 1963, p. 8

   2 more examples

   Then I cleaned it thoroughly, oiled, wrapped it in a piece of canton flannel and locked it up.

   1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 127

   No house could sit it down, no house blind what my memory saw—a cow, an old white horse, three little girls in pinafores, their arms full of dolls and Canton-flannel rabbits made and stuffed with bran by an aunt […]

   1944, Emily Carr, “Foundation”, in The House of All Sorts