zibeline

****************************************************************
Spruce up the season with a gift subscription 
to Merriam-Webster Unabridged. 
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_gift.pl?choice=MWU&ref=gift_mwol
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for December 21 is:

zibeline  \ZIB-uh-leen\   noun 
     : a soft lustrous wool fabric with mohair, alpaca, or 
camel's hair 

Example sentence:
     "She tops white zibeline pants with a brown and white 
check hunting jacket and brandy silk scarf." (_House 
Beautiful_, October 1, 2000) 

Did you know?
     Though zibeline is woven from the hair of alpacas, camels, 
or Angora goats, its name actually traces back to a Slavic word 
for the sable, a small mammal related to the weasel. The Slavic 
term was adopted into Old Italian, and from there it passed to 
Middle French, then on to English in the late 1600s. 
English "zibeline" originally referred to the sable or its fur, 
but in the 1890s it developed a second sense, applying to a 
soft, smooth, slightly furry material woven from a mixture of 
animal hairs. It's especially suited to women's suits and 
coats, or, as a fashion columnist in the December 6, 1894 issue 
of _Vogue_ observed, "Zibeline ... makes an exceedingly pretty, 
warm theatre cloak, not too fine to be crushed into the small 
one-chair space."