chamois

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem (“without horns”). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

noun

1. A short-horned goat antelope native to mountainous terrain in southern Europe; Rupicapra rupicapra.
2. Short for chamois leather (“soft pliable leather originally made from the skin of chamois (nowadays the hides of deer, sheep, and other species of goat are alternatively used)”).
3. The traditional colour of chamois leather.
   chamois:
4. An absorbent cloth used for cleaning and polishing, formerly made of chamois leather.
   I took them, breathed on them, polished them with a chamois and hung them on the chandelier. 1926, Louise de Koven Bowen, Growing Up with a City, University of Illinois Press, page 39
   Mirrors can be cleaned with warm water and ammonia or vinegar and polished with a chamois. 1984, Cruising World, page 158
   Once your paint has been restored, drying your car with a chamois is just about all you have to do to restore the luster. 1989, Popular Mechanics, page 146
5. (cycling) A padded insert which protects the groin from the bicycle saddle.

adj

1. Chamois-colored.

verb

1. (transitive) To clean with a chamois leather cloth.