Canton flannel

English

Alternative forms

• canton flannel

Etymology

After Canton, China.

Noun

Canton flannel (countable and uncountable, plural Canton flannels)

1. A type of soft cotton fabric.
   • 1897, Stephen Crane, The Open Boat, Gateway to the Great Books #3 1963, p. 8:

     The canton flannel gulls flew near and far.

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

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

   • 1944, Emily Carr, “Foundation”, in The House of All Sorts‎^[1]:

     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 […]