ric-rac, rick-rack Fashion.
(ˈrɪkræk)
Also as one word.
[Origin unknown: perh. reduplicated form of rack v.3 or rick v.2]
A decorative zigzag braid used as a trimming for garments. Also attrib.
| 1884 I. M. Rittenhouse Jrnl. 25 Aug. in R. L. Stout Maud (1939) 326 Splendid sempstress—clothes nearly all done—Rickrack and feather-edge on the moon. 1911 C. Harris Eve's Second Husband 279 A wife who wore rick-rack braid on her petticoats. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 7 Jan. 11/1 (Advt.), House Dresses..trimmed with attractive colored chintz and rick-rack braid. 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 99 A wee-waisted model may have alliterative ric-rac-rows. 1956 J. Potts Diehard i. 5 Rick-rack trimming around the collar and long sleeves. 1960 Harper's Bazaar Apr. 76 Loosely sashed sheath..trimmed with black ric-rac. 1972 Vogue Feb. 51/1 White cotton piqué decorated here by waves of ricrac. 1974 Sumter (S. Carolina) Daily Item 24 Apr. (Belk Stroman Advts. Suppl.) 13 ‘Our Miss B’ flare skirt, shirt-look bodice with white collar or ric-rac. 1976 Daily Tel. 29 Oct. 17/3 Yves St Laurent..resolutely translated autumn's long wool peasant skirts into spring's long cotton ones. He threw rick-rack and red curtain bobbles on them. |
Hence ˈric-rac, ˈrick-rack v. trans.
| 1972 Vogue Feb. 46/2 Poppy dress..pinked and ric⁓racked. 1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 3 & 4 Mar. g12 (caption) A green tablecloth rickracked with pink, blue and lemon completes the look. |