Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A durable, often striped cotton fabric used in making clothing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a strong cotton fabric with diagonal twill weave
  • noun a white cotton fabric with blue stripes

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After the Galatea, a 19th-century English warship (from the fabric's use for children's sailor suits).]

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Examples

  • It can be purchased by the yard and it's of galatea which is cheap.

    How Ethel Hollister Became a Campfire Girl Irene Elliott Benson

  • Tanysiptera galatea, the common paradise-kingfisher, is an arresting bird with the unmistakably huge head and the trowel-like beak characteristic of kingfishers generally.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • T. galatea itself occupied New Guinea proper, having diversified there into only three subspecies, despite the great heterogeneity of available habitats.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • During his own early fieldwork in that part of the world, Mayr had studied the distribution of T. galatea and its allied species.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • Mayr postulated that, sometime in the past, a few pairs of Tanysiptera galatea happened to reach this little satellite from the mainland.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • During his own early fieldwork in that part of the world, Mayr had studied the distribution of T. galatea and its allied species.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • Mayr postulated that, sometime in the past, a few pairs of Tanysiptera galatea happened to reach this little satellite from the mainland.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • They became T. carolinae, distinct from T. galatea in having a blue breast instead of a white breast, as well as legs and feet of bright yellow.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • T. galatea itself occupied New Guinea proper, having diversified there into only three subspecies, despite the great heterogeneity of available habitats.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • As an example, he mentioned the paradise-kingfisher group of species—Tanysiptera galatea and others—on mainland New Guinea and its satellite islands.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

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