antedating "duck tape" 1899

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>OED has 1902
>
>1899 The Daily Picayune, (New Orleans, LA) Wednesday, February 08,
>1899; pg. 3;
>Issue 15; col E [19th C US Newspapers]
>      Woman?s World and Work Menu for Thursday Jeannie M. Gordon,
> Corresponding
>Secretary of the Era Club.
>Category: News [col. F]
>...In the washable suits for later wear pique and duck tape take the lead,
>especially in white and dark blue.
>
>1907 San Jose Mercury News, published as Sunday Mercury and Herald;  Date:
>05-19-1907;  Volume: LXXII;  Issue: 139;  Page: 4; [America's Historical
>Newspapers] Adv.
>Girdle corsets  ...The Paris Model Corset...a good strong tape girdle made of
>silk finished duck tape, boned with heavy steels.

What is the sense of "duck tape" here? A type of tape? If so, what is
the sense of "tape"? More-or-less "fabric strip"? I assume "duck"
means the type of fabric?

If "duck tape" here means "tape made of duck" how did it "take the
lead" in "washable suits"? As ornamentation? Or was the whole suit
made of duck tape?

And if it's just "tape made of duck" does it merit an entry in the
dictionary? If it does, I suppose "canvas tape", "linen tape", etc.
get entries too? [I see from the same time period (e.g.) linen tape
girdles.] Or does the special collocation "duck tape" (used later for
a type of adhesive tape) drag in its ancestor?

I can't find "duck tape" in my poor-man's OED at a glance.

-- Doug Wilson


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