neat

1) Top-quality leather, made of the hides of ‘neat’ or cattle.

In the Act of 1558 it was ordered that ‘No shoe-maker shall make any shoes or boots of any neats-leather mingled, but only of itself’. That regulation was incorporated into the cordwaners’ ordinances: 1627 their wares … to be of leather well tanned and curried … and stitched hard drawn with handleathers without mixing the overleather part of neats leather and part of calves leather, Beverley. In 1666, shooes taken in Bridlington market were seased and declared unlawful, being not well tanned leather ... with calfe leather and neats horse leather mixt.

spellings neat's tongue
dates 1627 1666

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Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0