dowlas

English

Alternative forms

• dowlass

Etymology

Probably from Doullens, a town of Picardy, in France, formerly celebrated for this manufacture.

Noun

dowlas (countable and uncountable, plural dowlases)

1. (historical) A coarse linen cloth made in the north of England and in Scotland, later replaced by calico.
   • a. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, act 3, scene 3:

     Mistress Quickly: I bought you / a dozen of shirts to your back.
     Falstaff: Dowlas, filthy dowlas. I have given them away / to bakers' wives. They have made bolters of them.

Anagrams

• Oswald, old saw, waldos