nankeen

plural nankeens

1. countableuncountableA type of cotton cloth originally from Nanking in China.

   1885, L. and A. Maude (translators), Leo Tolstoy, "What Men Live By", in What Men Live By and Other Tales He put on over his shirt his wife's wadded nankeen jacket, and over that he put his own cloth coat.

   2 more examples

   "Well, I wore my diamond, as you may imagine, and rigged myself in my best clothes, viz. my blue coat and brass buttons before-mentioned, nankeen trousers and silk stockings, a white waistcoat, and a pair of white gloves bought for the occasion."

   1849, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter V, in The History of Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond, Bradbury and Evans, page 55

   c. 1910-1920, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Thomas Seltzer (translator), A Christmas Tree and a Wedding She was a poor widow, and her little boy, clad in a sorry-looking little nankeen jacket, looked thoroughly crushed and intimidated.