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Vinony

chamois

noun

  1. color
L317905 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈʃæmwɑː/ / /ˈʃæmwɑːz/ / /ʃæmˈwɑ/

adj

Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“without horns”). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

  1. Chamois-colored.

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“without horns”). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

  1. A short-horned goat antelope native to mountainous terrain in southern Europe; Rupicapra rupicapra.

    “When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub – a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills.”

  2. Ellipsis of chamois leather (“soft pliable leather originally made from the skin of chamois (nowadays the hides of deer, sheep, and other species of goat are alternatively used)”).

    “[H]e seldom donned his armour, substituted costly damask and silk for his war-worn shamoy doublet, and affected at his advanced time of life more gaiety of attire than his contemporaries remembered as distinguishing his early youth.”

  3. The traditional colour of chamois leather.
  4. An absorbent cloth used for cleaning and polishing, formerly made of chamois leather.

    “I took them, breathed on them, polished them with a chamois and hung them on the chandelier.”

    “Mirrors can be cleaned with warm water and ammonia or vinegar and polished with a chamois.”

  5. A padded insert which protects the groin from the bicycle saddle.

verb

Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“without horns”). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

  1. To clean with a chamois leather cloth.