CALICO  , a

general name given to plain cotton cloth . The word was spelt in various forms, including " calicut," which shows its derivation from the radian city of Calicut or Kolikod, a seaport in the presidency of Madras, and one of the chief ports of intercourse with Europe in the 16th century, where cotton cloths were made . The name seems to have been applied to all kinds of cotton cloths imported from the East . In England it is now applied particularly to grey or bleached cotton cloth used for domestic purposes, and, generally, to any fairly heavy cotton cloth without a pattern . In the United States there is'a special application to printed cloth " of a coarser quality than muslin." In England " printed calico " is a comprehensive term .