shamoy

English

Etymology

From a phonetic spelling of chamois, a word borrowed from French.

Noun

shamoy (countable and uncountable, plural shamoys)

1. Obsolete spelling of chamois
   • 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter XVI, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 317:

     [H]e seldom donned his armour, substituted costly damask and silk for his war-worn shamoy doublet, and affected at his advanced time of life more gaiety of attire than his contemporaries remembered as distinguishing his early youth.

   • 1843, Thomas Simpson. Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, effected by the Officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, during the years 1836—39 (London : S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley), p. 39:

     I afterwards adopted the precaution of using very thin shamoy gloves, and have often taken observations at still lower temperatures without injury.

Verb

shamoy (third-person singular simple present shamoys, present participle shamoying, simple past and past participle shamoyed)

1. To prepare leather by working oil into the skin.