Definition of "dimity" [dim•i•ty]

• A sheer, crisp cotton fabric with raised woven stripes or checks, used chiefly for curtains and dresses. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Her dress was of the simplest form, the only parts in view being a kind of dimity jacket tied dose up to the throat in front, and extending a short distance below the hips, with short sleeves, which left bare the arm from the elbow, and a blue dungaree petticoat with a checked apron."
• "The "Burnet House" is the principal hotel here, and afforded me every comfort I could have expected, not the least being the satisfaction I derived from the sight of the proprietor, who, in the spotless cleanliness of his person and his "dimity," and surrounded by hosts of his travelling inmates -- myself among the number -- stood forth in bold relief, like a snowball in a coal-hole."
• "It is the white light which comes in the dimity which is so hateful to me."