khaki and the OED

[Fat Old Guy]

I looked this up long ago but couldn't post it (could it be the outsourced software?). This is the khaki entry from the Oxford English Dictionary

 

khaki a and n

 

A. adj. a. Dust-coloured; dull brownish yellow, drab. b. (attrib. use of B.) Made of khaki cloth.

 

1863 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 45 As to dress.. he [Capt. Cureton] confined himself to causing their clothes to be dyed khakee, or mud-colour. 1869 E. A. PARKES Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 395 The comfortable gray or dust-coloured native Khakee cloth. 1884 J. COLBORNE Hicks Pasha 2 We had to provide ourselves with..Karkee jackets. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 35/2 The new Khaki cloth, the material adopted by the War Office for the troops on active service. 1890 WATT Dict. Econ. Prod. India IV. 566 It is needless to attempt an enumeration of all the Khaki dyes of India. 1898 B. BURLEIGH Sirdar & Khalifa ix. 128 The Kharkie trousers of the Lincolns and Warwicks. 1900 Daily News 24 Mar. 6/5 Stockings, gloves, sunshades, all are to be khaki.

 

 

 

B. n. A fabric of this colour now largely employed in the British army for field-uniforms. Originally of stout twilled cotton (khaki drill), but more recently made also of wool (khaki bedford, k. serge). Also (usu. pl.), a uniform or garment made from this fabric.

 

In India, khaki was used for uniforms by the Guide Corps under Lumsden and Hodson in 1848, by the troops in the Mutiny of 1857, in the Afghan campaigns of 1878-80, etc. It was worn in the Sudan Wars of 1883-98, and esp. by the British troops in South Africa in 1899-. (Quots. 1857-59 may mean simply the colour: cf. dressed in white.)

 

1857 H. B. EDWARDES Let. 21 July in Lumsden & Elsmie Lumsden of Guides (1899) 200 The whole of the troops here are dressed in khkee. 1859 SIR J. MURRAY Disp. 27 Apr. in Delhi Gaz. 23 June, The Infantry were dressed in khakee. 1879 E. S. BRIDGES Round the World in 6 Months 203 The troops here are dressed in khaki..It is a kind of strong brown holland, and appears to me to be made of flax. 1883 Times 11 July 7 Marksmen..in the case of some of the Indian team, in the light serviceable dust-coloured khakee. 1886 YULE s.v., The original khakee was a stout cotton cloth, but the colour was also used in broad~cloth. 1892 Pall Mall G. 25 Apr. 7/1 Khaki is not showy enough except when it is new and well made up, and if constantly worn it tends to promote slovenliness. 1899 S. CRANE in Cornh. Mag. Dec. 749 In came Casper, thin, yellow, and in soiled khaki. 1936 Amer. Speech XI. 50 Unless he learns..to restrict the use of khaki to cotton uniforms of that shade..he is still a John [viz. a recruit]. 1956 Ibid. XXXI. 192 A marine's uniform wardrobe consists of greens, blues, khakis. 1956 H. GOLD Man who was not with It (1965) xviii. 157 Once I sat wearing nothing but a pair of shiny starched new khakis. 1961 Harper's Mag. Oct. 43/2 The only clothing I owned was four pairs of khakis, three sweat shirts, a tweed jacket. 1970 T. COE Wax Apple (1973) i. 8 He was short and wiry, dressed in khakis and T-shirt.

 

 

 

b. Used for a soldier clothed in khaki.

 

1899 LUMSDEN & ELSMIE Lumsden of Guides 85 There used to be a good deal of rivalry between the Guides and the 1st Punjab Rifles..the former were styled Khkis from their dust-coloured clothing. Mod. Newspr., Before daylight the Khakis were at them again.