Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Gauze \Gauze\, n. [F. gaze; so called because it was first
   introduced from Gaza, a city of Palestine.]
   A very thin, slight, transparent stuff, generally of silk;
   also, any fabric resembling silk gauze; as, wire gauze;
   cotton gauze.

   {Gauze dresser}, one employed in stiffening gauze.