drapery

noun — 4 senses

drapery

noun

/ˈdɹeɪpəɹi/

Etymology From Middle English draperie, from Old French draperie, from drap (“drape, sheet, large cloth”), ultimately of Germanic origin.

1

Cloth draped gracefully in folds.

2

A piece of cloth, hung vertically as a curtain; a drape.

  • The windows gleamed with light through the boughs—a small open space gave to view the left wing of the building—he could distinctly see the long range of illuminated apartments, figures moving to and fro, and the richly coloured fall of the draperies.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 306:
3

The occupation of a draper; cloth-making, or dealing in cloth.

  • He made also statutes for the maintenance of drapery and the keeping of wools within the realm1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
4

Cloth, or woollen materials in general.

  • people who ought to be weighing out grocery or measuring out drapery1859, Thomas Macaulay, The Life of William Pitt:
Derived terms
draperied, draperylike
Related terms
ale-drapery

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.