muslin

noun

Etymology: From French mousseline, from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo (“Mosul”), that is Mosul in northern Iraq (compare 1875 Knight, Edward H., Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, V2 p1502: "Muslins are so called from Moussol in India."). Doublet of mousseline.

1. Any of several varieties of thin cotton cloth.

   “[…] my pupils leave off their thick shoes and tight old tartan pelisses, and wear silk stockings and muslin frocks, as fashionable baronets' daughters should.”

   “A bleached or unbleached thin white cotton cloth, unprinted and undyed. [Nineteen varieties are thereafter listed.]”

2. Fabric made of cotton, flax (linen), hemp, or silk, finely or coarsely woven.

   “Other very different styles of fabric are now indifferently called muslins, and the term is used differently on the respective sides of the Atlantic.”

3. Any of a wide variety of tightly-woven thin fabrics, especially those used for bedlinen.
4. Woven cotton or linen fabrics, especially when used for items other than garments.
5. A dressmaker's pattern made from inexpensive cloth for fitting.
6. Any of several different moths, especially the muslin moth, Diaphora mendica.
7. Woman as sex object; prostitute, as in a bit of muslin.

   “"That was a pretty bit of muslin hanging on your arm—who was she?” asked the fascinating student.”