‖ moire
(mwar, mwɔː(r), mɔə(r))
Also 7 moyre.
[F. moire, according to Fr. lexicographers an adoption of some form of Eng. mohair.
The OF. moire, the name of some textile fabric mentioned by Chrestien of Troyes (12th c.), is believed to be unconnected with the modern word.]
Originally a kind of watered mohair; afterwards, any textile fabric (but usually silk) to which a watered appearance is given in the process of calendering; a watered or clouded silk.
moire antique, explained by Fr. lexicographers to mean a watered silk of large pattern, is in Eng. use practically synonymous with moire, which is apprehended as a shortened form.
| 1660 Pepys Diary 21 Nov., We bought some greene-watered moyre, for a morning wastecoate. 1664 Ibid., 8 May, A new black cloth suit and cloak lined with silk moyre. 1751 Chesterfield Let. to Son 22 Apr. (1774) II. 136 Talk pompons, moires, &c., with Madame de Blot. 1855 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 268 [Dressmaker loq.] I don't think I ever saw so trashy a moire. 1858 Homans Cycl. Comm. s.v. Moire Antique, If good silk be wrapped tightly and carelessly round a roller, it may become moire much against the inclination of the possessor. 1860 Trollope Framley P. (1861) III. xvii. 316, ‘I suppose Jane can put her hand at once on the moire antique when we reach Dover?’ 1866 M. E. Braddon Lady's Mile 191 The heap of silk and moire. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xxiii. (1872) 166 Velvets and moire antiques. |