Blanket

a heavy, oblong piece of cotton or woolen cloth loosely woven and finished with a nap. Blankets are used in beds or elsewhere for the sake of warmth. Bed blankets, for four hundred fifty years preceding the last half of the nineteenth century, were made of wool, either in white or natural gray. Since that time the use of cotton blankets and blankets of mixed cotton and wool has increased constantly. The manufacture of bed blankets involves but four processes, weaving, fulling, napping, and binding. The web is woven in long lengths, the stripes which serve as border being interwoven at regular intervals. The blankets are cut and bound usually in pairs, although single blankets of some varieties are to be had.

Army blankets are heavy, dark gray, single blankets, and are purchased by the government for the regular army.

Mackinaw blankets are extra heavy red or blue blankets used by northern miners and lumbermen.

Camping blankets are cotton blankets used by hunters and campers, and for household purposes.

The name blanket is from Thomas Blanket, a well known English clothier of the fourteenth century.