humhumn.
Historical.
A coarse Indian cotton cloth.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > cotton > [noun] > coarse
humhum1620
Surat1643
negannepaut1725
drill1743
cottonade1803
manta1848
sponge cloth1862
cotton drill1899
1620 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 193 Of sahannes and hammomes thiere are but fewe at presant in towne.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2269/2 4172 pieces of Hummums.
1696 J. F. Merchant's Ware-house 22 I shall begin with a Callico called Hummums.
1745 in J. F. Watson Ann. Philad. (1830) 179 Quilted humhums, turkettees, grassetts, [etc.].
1794 P. Freneau Village Merchant 6 Hum-hums are here,—and muslins—what you please.
1801 in C. Cist Cincinnati in 1841 (1841) 179 Among other goods..hum~hums.
1820 Massachusetts Spy 5 Jan. The bleach rotted linen..or the sleazy humhum.
1894 A. M. Earle Costume Colonial Times 142 Hum-hum, a plain coarse-meshed Indian fabric made of cotton, much advertised in the middle of the [18th] century. We read of ‘blue Hum-hums’ and ‘Hump-humps for Sacks’ for sale in various Boston newspapers, from 1750 to 1770.
1952 Brewer's Dict. Phr. & Fable (rev. ed.) 477/1 Humhum (U.S.A.), a thin cambric material.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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