drape
pronunciation
How to pronounce drape in British English:
UK [dreɪp]
How to pronounce drape in American English:
US [drep]
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- Noun:
- hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)
- the manner in which fabric hangs or falls
- a sterile covering arranged over a patient's body during a medical examination or during surgery in order to reduce the possibility of contamination
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- Verb:
- arrange in a particular way
- place casually
- cover or dress loosely with cloth
Word Origin
- drape
- drape: [15] The verb drape originally meant ‘weave wool into cloth’. It was borrowed from Old French draper, which was a derivative of drap ‘cloth’ (source of English drab). This in turn came from late Latin drappus, which was ultimately of Celtic origin. Other offspring of drap which found their way into English are draper [14], drapery [14], and trappings. The use of drapery for ‘loose voluminous cloth covering’ eventually fed back into the verb drape, producing in the 19th century its current sense ‘cover loosely with cloth’.=> drab, draper, trappings
- drape (v.)
- c. 1400, "to ornament with cloth hangings;" mid-15c., "to weave into cloth," from Old French draper "to weave, make cloth" (13c.), from drap "cloth, piece of cloth, sheet, bandage," from Late Latin drapus, perhaps of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish drapih "mantle, garment"). Meaning "to cover with drapery" is from 1847. Meaning "to cause to hang or stretch out loosely or carelessly" is from 1943. Related: Draped; draping.
- drape (n.)
- 1660s, from drape (v.). Jive talk slang for "suit of clothes" is attested from 1945.
Example
- 1. He brought out a shawl which he began to drape carefully over gertrude 's shoulders .
- 2. We 'll very likely have to drape the heavy clothes over the furniture as it is .
- 3. A clip drape ship-shape tip-top sock .
- 4. A describing index was propoesed for the vivid extent of dynamic fabric drape .
- 5. And I was lying on the exam table on my stomach , with a drape over me , when in walked this very handsome man .