Chapter KEDGEREE to KHAKEE of K by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

this he repeats in the new ed. (1901) of his Concise Etym. Dict., adding, “Not from Jersey, which is also used as the name of a material.” Kerseymere, he says, is “a corruption of Cashmere or Cassimere, by confusion with kersey”].

1495.—“Item the xv day of Februar, bocht fra Jhonne Andersoun x ellis of quhit Caresay, to be tua coitis, ane to the King, and ane to the Lard of Balgony; price of ellne vjs.; summa … iij. li.”—Accts. of the Ld. H. Treasurer of Scotland, 1877, p. 225.

1583.—“I think cloth, Kerseys and tinne have never bene here at so lowe prices as they are now.”—Mr. John Newton, from Babylon (i.e. Bagdad) July 20, in Hakl. 378.

1603.—“I had as lief be a list of an English kersey, as be pil’d as thou art pil’d, for a French velvet.”—Measure for Measure, i. 2.

1625.—“Ordanet the thesaurer to tak aff to ilk ane of the officeris and to the drummer and pyper, ilk ane of thame, fyve elne of reid Kairsie claithe.”—Exts. from Recds. of Glasgow, 1876, p. 347.

1626.—In a contract between the Factor of the King of Persia and a Dutch “Opper Koopman” for goods we find: “2000 Persian ells of Carsay at 1 eocri (?) the ell.”—Valentijn, v. 295.

1784.—“For sale—superfine cambrics and edgings … scarlet and blue Kassimeres.”—In Seton-Karr, i. 47.

c. 1880.—(no date given) “Kerseymere. Cassimere. A finer description of kersey … (then follows the absurd etymology as given by Planché). … It is principally a manufacture of the west of England, and except in being tweeled (sic) and of narrow width it in no respect differs from superfine cloth.”—Draper’s Dict. s.v.

KHADIR, s. H. khadar; the recent alluvial bordering a large river. (See under BANGUR).

[1828.—“The river … meanders fantastically … through a Khader, or valley between two ranges of hills.”—Mundy, Pen and Pencil Sketches, ed. 1858, p. 130.

[The Khadir Cup is one of the chief racing trophies open to pig-stickers in upper India.]

KHAKEE, vulgarly KHARKI, KHARKEE, s. or adj. Hind. khaki, ‘dusty or dust-coloured,’ from Pers. khak, ‘earth,’ or ‘dust’; applied to a light drab or chocolate-coloured cloth. This was the colour of the uniform worn by some of the Punjab regiments at the siege of Delhi, and became very popular in the army generally during the campaigns of 1857–58, being adopted as a convenient material by many other corps. [Gubbins (Mutinies in Oudh, 296) describes how the soldiers at Lucknow dyed their uniforms a light brown or dust colour with a mixture of black and red office inks, and Cave Brown (Punjab and Delhi, ii. 211) speaks of its introduction in place of the red uniform which gave the British soldier the name of “Lal Coortee Wallahs.”]

[1858.—A book appeared called “Service and Adventures with the Khakee Ressalah, or Meerut Volunteer Horse during the Mutinies in 1857–8,” by R. H. W. Dunlop.

[1859.—“It has been decided that the full dress will be of dark blue cloth, made up, not like the tunic, but as the native ungreekah (angarkha), and set off with red piping. The undress clothing will be entirely of Khakee.”—Madras Govt. Order, Feb. 18, quoted in Calcutta Rev. ciii. 407.

[1862.—“Kharkee does not catch in brambles so much as other stuffs.”—Brinckman, Rifle in Cashmere, 136.]

1878.—“The Amir, we may mention, wore a khaki suit, edged with gold, and the well-known Herati cap.”—Sat. Review, Nov. 30, 683.

[1899.—“The batteries to be painted with the Kirkee colour, which being similar to the roads of the country, will render the vehicles invisible.”—Times, July 12.

[1890–91.—The newspapers have constant references to a khaki election, that is an election started on a war policy, and the War Loan for the Transvaal Campaign has been known as “khakis.”]

Recent military operations have led to the general introduction of khaki as the service uniform. Something like this has been used in the East for clothing from a very early time:—

[1611.—“See if you can get me a piece of very fine brown calico to make me clothes.”—Danvers, Letters, i. 109.]