Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cordwain \Cord"wain\ (k?rd"w?n), n. [OE. cordewan, cordian, OF.
   cordoan, cordouan, fr. Sp. cordoban. See {Cordovan}.]
   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.

         Buskins he wore of costliest cordwain.   --Spenser.