tiffany

See also: Tiffany

English

Etymology

From an Anglo-Norman common name for the festival of the Epiphany. See Tiffany.

Noun

tiffany (countable and uncountable, plural tiffanies)

1. A kind of gauze, or very thin silk.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica‎^[1], 2nd edition, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, Book 6, Chapter 12, p. 284:

     […] the smoak of sulphur will not black paper, and is commonly used by Women to whiten Tiffanies […]

   • 1721, Robert Samber, chapter 1, in A Treatise of the Plague‎^[2], London: James Holland et al., page 8:

     Reduce all to a very fine Powder, searsing the same through a Tiffany Searse, as you should the former.

   • 1792, Hannah Cowley, A Day in Turkey; or, the Russian Slaves, London: G.G.J. & J. Robinson, Act III, Scene 1, p. 34,^[3]

     […] he made me throw away my peasant weeds, and gave me all these fine cloaths. See this tiffany, all spotted with silver; look at this beautiful turban—He gave it me all!

   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, “Letter XII.”, in Desmond. […], volume II, London: […] G[eorge,] G[eorge,] J[ohn] and J[ames] Robinson, […], →OCLC, pages 167–168:

     When, however, the matin loving lark, or ruſſet pinions, floating amid the tiffany clouds, that variegated, in fleecy undulation, the grey-inveſted heavens, hailed with his ſoul-reviving note, the radient countenance of returning morn; […]

   • 1903, E. Bartrum, The Book of Pears and Plums‎^[4], London: John Lane, page 34:

     Frost is another foe. Cordons might be protected by hoops covered with tiffany, Russian canvas, mats, or netting; bushes by nets, mats, etc.