plush
A textile fabric with a sort of velvet nap or shag on one side. (Webster, 1882)
"What is there for you, Pa?" Laura asked jealously. For Pa there were two fine, white shirts, and a dark brown plush cap. – The Long Winter, Chapter 32, "The Christmas Barrel"
The word plush comes from the French pluche, meaning "to become fluffy or shed." Originally, plush only referred to any fabric of worsted yarn or wool (like Pa's cap); later, the term was applied to any fabric with a cut pile or nap - such as velvet. It also refers to similarly-textured fabrics of silk or cotton. Today, plush can also be made of synthetic material, not available at the time of the "Little House"® books.
The early advertisement at right shows a selection of men's plush caps.
The (Railroad) Car Builders' Dictionary of 1879 defines plush as "a species of shaggy cloth or stuff with a velvet nap on one side, composed regularly of a woof of a single thread and a double warp; the one, wool of two threads twisted, the other of goat's or camel's hair. But some plushes are made wholly of worsted, others wholly of hair." — The Carbuilders'
Dictionary (New York: The Railroad Gazette, 1879), 120.
plush (SSL 4; TLW 32; LTP 17, 20), see also velvet
