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Webster 1913 Edition

Cloth

Cloth

(klŏth; 115)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Cloths
(klŏthz; 115)
, except in the sense of garments, when it is
Clothes
(klōthz or klōz).
[OE.
clath
cloth, AS.
clāþ
cloth, garment; akin to D.
kleed
, Icel.
klæði
, Dan.
klæde
, cloth, Sw.
kläde
, G.
kleid
garment, dress.]
1.
A fabric made of fibrous material (or sometimes of wire, as in wire cloth); commonly, a woven fabric of cotton, woolen, or linen, adapted to be made into garments; specifically, woolen fabrics, as distinguished from all others.
2.
The dress; raiment.
[Obs.]
See
Clothes
.
I’ll ne'er distrust my God for
cloth
and bread.
Quarles.
3.
The distinctive dress of any profession, especially of the clergy; hence, the clerical profession.
Appeals were made to the priesthood. Would they tamely permit so gross an insult to be offered to their
cloth
?
Macaulay.
The
cloth
, the clergy, are constituted for administering and for giving the best possible effect to . . . every axiom.
I. Taylor.
Body cloth
.
See under
Body
.
–
Cloth of gold
,
a fabric woven wholly or partially of threads of gold.
–
Cloth measure
,
the measure of length and surface by which cloth is measured and sold. For this object the standard yard is usually divided into quarters and nails.
–
Cloth paper
,
a coarse kind of paper used in pressing and finishing woolen cloth.
– Cloth
shearer
,
one who shears cloth and frees it from superfluous nap.

Webster 1828 Edition

Cloth

CLOTH

, n.
1.
A manufacture or stuff of wool or hair, or of cotton, flax, hemp or other vegetable filaments, formed by weaving or intertexture of threads, and used for garments or other covering and for various other purposes; as woolen cloth, linen cloth, cotton cloth, hair cloth.
2.
The covering of a table; usually called a tablecloth.
3.
The canvas on which pictures are drawn.
4.
A texture or covering put to a particular use; as a cloth of state.
5.
Dress; raiment. [See Clothes.]
6.
The covering of a bed.

Definition 2024

cloth

cloth

English

Alternative forms

  • cloath (obsolete)
  • clath, clathe, claith (Scotland)

Noun

cloth ‎(plural cloths or clothes)

  1. (uncountable) A woven fabric such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Lisson Grove Mystery:
      “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”
  2. A piece of cloth used for a particular purpose.
  3. A form of attire that represents a particular profession.
  4. (in idioms) Priesthood, clergy.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English cloth, clath, from Old English clāþ ‎(“cloth, clothes, covering, sail”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą ‎(“garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleyt- ‎(“to cling to, cleave, stick”). Cognate with Scots clath ‎(“cloth”), North Frisian klaid ‎(“dress, garment”), Saterland Frisian Klood ‎(“dress, apparel”), West Frisian kleed ‎(“cloth, article of clothing”), Dutch kleed ‎(“robe, dress”), Low German kleed ‎(“dress, garment”), German Kleid ‎(“gown, dress”), Danish klæde ‎(“cloth, dress”), Swedish kläde ‎(“cloth”), Icelandic klæði ‎(“cloth, dressing”), Old English clīþan ‎(“to adhere, stick”). Compare Albanian ngjit ‎(“to stick, attach, glue”).

Pronunciation

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