the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
A term used in the Middle Ages for Spanish leather (goatskin tanned and dressed), and hence, any leather handsomely finished, colored, gilded, or the like.
noun.
a leather from Córdoba originally of tanned goatskin later of horsehide.
Word Usage
"He began by buying the best cordwain that could be had in the town, and associated himself with the best goldsmith in the town, and caused him to make clasps for the shoes, and to gild the clasps; and he marked how it was done until he learned the method."