Definition of "gingham"

gingham

/ˈɡɪŋ.əm/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural ginghams
1. (uncountable) A cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks.
  Quotations
  Aunt Elizabeth had produced a terrible gingham apron and an equally terrible gingham sunbonnet from somewhere in the New Moon garret, and made Emily put them on. The apron was a long sack-like garment, high in the neck, with sleeves.
  1923, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Chapter 8”, in Emily of New Moon
  Always, the relentless bass of hip-hop blasting in rooms of nautical-themed furnishings, faded driftwood, gingham upholstery, linen and chambray.
  2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2. (countable) A dress made from that material.
  Quotations
  "We have put on the pale blue silks that we wore at Isabella's wedding; that, however, was Georgiana's thought," continued Helen; "she said it would be impossible to go to church in our pink ginghams."
  1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, page 187
3. (UK, slang, archaic) An umbrella.
  Quotations
  […] their ginghams stuck under their arms at right angles to their back-bones […]
  1878, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, George Cruikshank's Table-book, page 268