Canton flannel

Canton flannel

English

Alternative forms

• canton flannel

Noun

Canton flannel (countable and uncountable, plural Canton flannels)

1. A type of soft cotton fabric.
   • 1897, Stephen Crane, The Open Boat, Gateway to the Great Books #3 1963, p. 8:

     The canton flannel gulls flew near and far.

   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, p. 127:

     Then I cleaned it thoroughly, oiled, wrapped it in a piece of canton flannel and locked it up.

   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, "Foundation,"

     No house could sit it down, no house blind what my memory saw—a cow, an old white horse, three little girls in pinafores, their arms full of dolls and Canton-flannel rabbits made and stuffed with bran by an aunt […]