The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Calico \Cal"i*co\, n.; pl. Calicoes. [So called because first
   imported from Calicut, in the East Indies: cf. F. calicot.]
   1. Plain white cloth made from cotton, but which receives
      distinctive names according to quality and use, as, super
      calicoes, shirting calicoes, unbleached calicoes, etc.
      [Eng.]
      [1913 Webster]

            The importation of printed or stained colicoes
            appears to have been coeval with the establishment
            of the East India Company.            --Beck
                                                  (Draper's
                                                  Dict. ).
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In the United States the term calico is applied only to
         the printed fabric.
         [1913 Webster]

   Calico bass (Zool.), an edible, fresh-water fish (Pomoxys
      sparaides) of the rivers and lake of the Western United
      States (esp. of the Misissippi valley.), allied to the
      sunfishes, and so called from its variegated colors; --
      called also calicoback, grass bass, strawberry bass,
      barfish, and bitterhead.

   Calico printing, the art or process of impressing the
      figured patterns on calico.
      [1913 Webster]