mohair, n. (and a.)
(ˈməʊhɛə(r))
Forms: 6 mocayare, moochary, mockaire, 7 mohaire, moher, moehair, mowhayre, 7–8 moyhair, mowhair, 7– mohair.
[Ultimately a. Arabic muχayyar cloth of goats' hair (lit. ‘select, choice’, pa. pple. of χayyara to choose). The history of the forms is obscure, the word having come into Eng. by more than one channel. The present form is prob. due to association with hair.
The It. moccaiaro (moccaiorro, moccaiardo) and F. mocayart, moncayart, which come nearest of the European forms to the Arabic original, were early applied to textile fabrics of different material (see mockado). In the 17th c. the Eng. word was adopted in Fr. as mouaire, now spelt moire (see moire); the Sp. moarre, muer, It. moarro, G. mohr, seem to be adoptions from Fr.]
1. Properly, a kind of fine camlet made from the hair of the Angora goat, sometimes watered. Also, yarn made from this hair. In modern use often applied to a fabric in imitation of the true mohair, in the 18th c. wholly of silk, but now usually of a mixture of wool and cotton. mohair glacé: see quot. 1884.
| 1570 G. Campion in Hakluyt's Voy. (1599) II. i. 127 There is also cotten wooll,..chamlets, mocayares. 1584 W. Barret Ibid. 273 Cloth of Wooll, Karsies, Mockaires, Chamlets, and all sortes of Silke. 1588 T. Hickock tr. C. Frederick's Voy. 6 b, Gerdles of wooll and bumbast black and red like to Moocharies. 1619 Purchas Microcosmus xxvii. 269 The new devised names of Stuffes and Colours,..Veletato, Philizello,..Mohaire. 1640 in Noorthouck London (1773) 840/2 Yarn, grogram or moyhair, the cwt. qt. five score 1s. 6d. 1641 Silke-mohers [see duretto]. 1668 T. Rokeby Let. 28 Sept. in Mem. (Surtees) 16 A mohaire with a small weale [for a gown]. 1702–3 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 211 Crimson Morella mohair for the Curtains. 1727 W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 409 They import..Camblets, Grograms, Grogram Yarn, Mohairs of Angor. 1735 Pope Ep. Lady 170 She..Observes how much a Chintz exceeds Mohair. 1742–3 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) II. 204 Let my room be hung with mohair instead of paper. 1831 A. S. Mackenzie Year in Spain II. 214 A petticoat of mohair. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Mohair Glacé, a goat's-hair and cotton French dress goods. 1884 West. Daily Press 13 June 7/6 Mohair is a more ordinary material, serving for early morning outdoor wear. |
2. A garment made of such material.
| 1673 Ld. Fountainhall in M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. (1826) III. 3, I have observed the most part of people to have ventured upon moyhairs. 1751 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) III. 166, I could find no mohairs in London, that exactly answered that description. 1861 Eng. Wom. Dom. Mag. III. 69/1 A grey mohair is very pretty made with two fluted flounces at the bottom of the skirt. |
3. The hair of the Angora goat.
| 1753 Hanway Trav. I. v. lxx. 317 note, Mohair from turkey..is from 2s. 6d. to 12s. the pound. 1878 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 544/2 The first importation of mohair from the Cape [of Good Hope], made in 1862, amounted to 1036 lb. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 261/2 The woolly hair called mohair, which forms the fleece of the Angora goat. |
4. slang. A soldier's nickname for a civilian.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Mohair, a man in the civil line, a townsman, or tradesman, a military term, from the mohair buttons worn by persons of those descriptions or any others not in the army; the buttons of military men being always of metal. [1822 Scott Nigel xii, ‘I need not speak of it, my lord,’ said the man of war; ‘the world knows it—all, perhaps, but the men of mohair—the poor sneaking citizens of London.’] |
5. a. attrib. or adj. Composed or consisting of mohair.
| 1640 H. Glapthorne Hollander iii. Wks. 1874 I. 113 Moehair peticoates. 1642 Rates Merchandize 59 Camel or Mo-hair yarne. 1674 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 300 License was given to gent. commoners and commoners to weare silk and mo⁓haire round caps. a 1756 E. Haywood New Present (1771) 259 Mohair-stuffs may be managed in the same way. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Macclesfield, Its chief manufacture is mohair buttons. 1861 W. Fairbairn Addr. to Brit. Assoc. p. lxi, Fancy or mixed goods from alpaca and mohair wool. |
b. spec. Comb.:
mohair braid, ‘worsted braid used for binding garments’ (
Cent. Dict. 1890);
mohair goat, the Angora goat;
mohair lustre (see
quot.);
mohair-shell (see
quot.).
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 350 *Mohair or Russian Braids. |
| 1880 Daily News 17 Sept. 6/2 The Angora or *mohair goat. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Mohair Luster, a black dress goods, resembling alpaca, consisting of mohair woven with cotton warp. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Moire,..the *mohair shell,..a peculiar species of voluta, which seems of a closely and finely reticulated texture, and resembles on the surface a piece of mohair. |
Also
ˈmohaired,
ˈmohairy adjs.| 1873 L. Troubridge Jrnl. 2 Oct. in Life amongst Troubridges (1966) viii. 63 An ancient mohairy sort of dress. 1965 New Statesman 15 Oct. 576/2 Part of the Piccadilly's audience..mohaired, razor-cut and agog. |