▪ I. tammy, n.1
(ˈtæmɪ)
Also 7 tammey, 8 tamy.
[Appears to be identical with obs. F. tamise ‘étoffe de laine lustrée’ cited by Littré from a letter patent of 22 July, 1780 (cf. cerise, cherry); but this may have been an adaptation of the Eng. word, which was in use a century earlier. It has also been suggested to be a corruption of tamin, or a deriv. of F. estame worsted, estamet cloth-rash (Cotgr.).]
A fine worsted cloth of good quality, often with a glazed finish.
Much mentioned in 17th and 18th centuries, but app. obs. before 1858. The name was revived as a trade-term in the late 19th c.: see quot. 1876.
| 1665 in Strype Stow's Surv. (1754) II. v. xviii. 380/2 All other Kersies, Bayes, Tammies, Sayes, Rashes [etc.]. 1675 Ogilby Brit. 146 Stow market... Its chiefest Trade is making of Tammeys, and the Town affords several good Inns for Entertainment. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tamy, a kind of Stuff. 1730 Bailey (folio), Tammy, a Sort of Worsted-Stuff, which lies cockled. 1757 Dyer Fleece iii. 481 Cheyney, and bayse, and serge, and alepine, Tammy, and crape, and the long countless list Of woollen webbs. 1758 Chron. in Ann. Reg. i. 119/1 Her riding dress a light drab, lined with blue tammy. 1770 Gentl. Mag. XL. 221 An account of a new loom, for weaving tamies, serges, stuffs and worsted cloaths. 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 34 Bradford is a manufacturing town for tammies, and other worsted stuffs. 1812 J. Bigland Beauties Eng. & Wales XVI. 805. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Tammies, a commercial name formerly given to Scotch camlets; a worsted fabric resembling bunting, but closer and finer. 1876 T. C. Archer Wool & Applications 46 Tammies are now made of wool with cotton warp. They are highly glazed and dyed in bright colours, and are still favourite fabrics. |
b. attrib., as tammy gown, tammy lining, tammy warp.
| 1666 Wood Life June (O.H.S.) II. 80, I bought of Mr. Fifield an English Tammy gowne which cost me, out of the shop, 2li. 4s. I had 18 yards and an half, at 2s. (a) yard. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1329/4 A brown cloth wastecoat, a red tammy petticoat. 1719 J. Roberts Spinster 346 Many woollen stuffs..are quite lost,..such as..worsted tammy draughts. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 159 The hardest twisted worsted is called tammy warp. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 147/1 Tammy lining may also be cleaned with camphine. |
▪ II. ˈtammy, n.2
[app. a. F. tamis (tami) tamis, assimilated to prec., perh. with the notion that it was made of that material.]
A strainer.
| 1769 J. Skeat Art Cookery 27 Then strain or rub them through a tammy into another clean stewpan. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery v. 44 Strain it off through a tammy. 1883 ‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housew. 49 These vegetables can..be boiled to pulp and passed through a tammy. |
| attrib. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 106 It must be equalised still more by passing through a tammy cloth, or a sieve. |
Hence ˈtammy v., trans. to strain through a tammy.
| 1903 Daily Chron. 14 Mar. 8/5 Then tammy or rub through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon. |
▪ III. tammy, n.3
(ˈtæmɪ)
Short for Tammy Shanter, corruption of tam o'shanter.
| 1894 L. B. Walford Matchmaker xliv, The letter was found inside the inner brim of his ‘Tammy’. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 26 Sept. 7/2 The Burns Statue... The poet stands in an easy attitude... He wears the ‘tammy’, the ploughman's coat and breeches, and the rough Scotch stockings. |