Wikipedia
Bedford cord, named after the town of Bedford in England, is a durable fabric that resembles corduroy. The weave has faint lengthwise ridges, but without the filling yarns that make the distinct wales characteristic of corduroy. It can have the appearance of narrow-width stripes with thin lines between.
Because of its stiff construction, it is often used in upholstery or in outerwear that does not require draping. Trousers made with Bedford cord are sometimes called "Bedford cords."
A water-repellent cotton version of Bedford cord called Jungle Cloth was used by the U.S. Navy for flight clothing during the 1920s-1940s era.
In 1893 a dress made of Bedford cord figured into the trial of Lizzie Borden. Various testimonies about "the Bedford Cord" gave conflicting ideas as to if the dress, which was burned by Borden after the murders of her father and stepmother, was stained by blood or by paint.
Usage examples of "bedford cord".
On Sunday morning, Miss Russell and Emma observed Lizzie burning a dress of blue cotton Bedford cord in the kitchen stove.
Dalby stood with his bedford cord behind in front of a puny, one-bar electric fire that looked and felt diminutive in the large Victorian fire-place in which the brass shovel and poker were kept polished.
He was wearing a leather windbreaker and a heavy roll-collar blue sweater under it, a pair of beatup Bedford cord breeches, and the kind of high laced boots that field engineers and surveyors wear in rough country.
He was wearing a leather windbreaker and a heavy roll-collar blue sweater under it, a pair of beat-up Bedford cord breeches, and the kind of high laced boots that field engineers and surveyors wear in rough country.
Unlike Bret, who was wearing the same sort of Savile Row suit he wore to the office, Frank had come correctly attired for the upper-class English weekend: old Bedford cord trousers and a khaki sweater with a silk scarf in the open neck of his faded shirt.
The flaring Bedford cord breeches, the big-buttoned tunic, the gloves perfectly folded under one epaulette, even the peak of the cap were all of the same perfect shade.