DIE (Fr. de, from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. datum, given)  , a word used in various senses, for a small cube of ivory, &c . (see DicE), for the engraved stamps used in coining money, &c., and various mechanical appliances in engineering . In architecture a " die " is the term used for the square base of a column, and it is applied also to the vertical face of a pedestal or podium . The fabrics known as " dice " take their name from the rectangular form of the figure . The original figures would probably be perfectly square, but to-day the same principle of weaving is applied, and the name dice is given to all figures of rectangular form . The different effects in the adjacent squares or rectangles are due to precisely the same reasons as those explained in connexion with the ground and the figure of damasks . The same weaves are used in both damasks and dices, but simpler weaves are generally employed for the commoner classes of the latter . The effect is, in every case, obtained by what are technic-ally called warp and weft float weaves . The illustration B shows the two double damask weaves arranged to form a dice pat-tern, while A shows a similar pattern made from two four-thread twill weaves . C and D represent respectively the disposition of the threads in A and B with the first pick, and the solid marks represent the floats of warp . The four squares, which are almost as pronounced in the cloth as those of a chess-board, may be made of any size by repeating each weave for the amount of surface required . It is only in the finest cloths that the double damask weaves B are used for dice patterns, the single damask weaves and the twill weaves being employed to a greater extent .

This class of pattern is largely employed for the

production of table-cloths of lower and medium qualities . The term damask is also often applied to cloths of this character, and especially so when the figure is formed by rectangles of different sizes .