Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NAN-KEEN', n. [Nankin, a Chinese word.]

A species of cloth of a firm texture, from China, made of a sort of cotton, viz. Gossypium religiosum, that is naturally of a kind of yellow color, which is quite indestructible and permanent. This cloth is now imitated by the manufacturers in Great Britain, though with far less permanency of color. It is now made in Georgia of cotton raised in that state.