Americani
(əmɛrɪˈkɑːniː)
Also Amerikani, Mer(c)kani.
[Swahili; also Amerikano (Madan, Steere), Marekani (Sucleur).]
A kind of cotton cloth.
| 1863 Speke Jrnl. Discov. Source Nile App. B. 617 Merikani or American sheeting. 1872 Burton Zanzibar II. App. i. 419 The Takah or piece..of ‘Merkani’, American domestics, is generally of 30 yards. 1894 N. Bell tr. L. von Höhnel's Discov. Lakes Rudolf & Stefanie I. 12, 600 pieces (djora) of white cotton goods (Merckani). |
| 1893 Geogr. Jrnl. Mar. 221 Their dress is a white cloth..of broad Americani. 1900 Grogan & Sharp From the Cape to Cairo 182 ‘Amerikani’. [Note] White trade cloth. 1910 E. Younghusband Glimpses E. Africa & Zanzibar 34 Boys wear a cotton singlet, a loin cloth of ‘Amerikani’. 1921 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 118/1 A venerable savage, with a yard of tattered and dirty americani round his loins. 1925 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 352/1 The rough Americani curtain. |