‖ torchon
(tɔrʃɔ̃)
[F., f. torcher to wipe.]
The French word for a duster or dish-cloth: used attrib. in torchon board, a board covered with torchon paper, used in water-colour drawing; torchon lace (also abbreviated torchon, pl. -ons), a coarse bobbin lace, of loose texture; torchon mat, a picture-frame mat (mat n.2 3) made of torchon paper; torchon paper, a kind of paper with a rough surface, used for water-colour drawing and for picture-frame mats.
| 1865 F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace iv. 53 But Venice point is now no more. The sole relic of this far-famed trade is the coarse torchon lace of the old lozenge pattern offered by the peasant women of Palestrina. 1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 10 But laces certainly would not, not even the ‘Torchon’ now so much in vogue: the very first wash they are torn, look ragged and unsightly. 1891 Times 1 Oct. 9/3 Operations in torchon and cheap Maltese laces are still on a small scale. 1908 Athenæum 16 Feb. 198/3 From Russian lace to torchon is not a wide step, but the latter is superior, shading off..into Maltese. |