Link Centre Dictionary

drape

UK/dɹeɪp/ US/ˈdreɪp/ uncommon us
verb (3) noun (3)

verb

1.

arrange in a particular way

  • “drape a cloth”
2.

place casually

  • “The cat draped herself on the sofa”
3.

cover or dress loosely with cloth

  • “drape the statue with a sheet”

noun

1.
2.

the manner in which fabric hangs or falls

  • “she adjusted the drape of her skirt”
3.

a sterile covering arranged over a patient''s body during a medical examination or during surgery in order to reduce the possibility of contamination

Origin

From Middle English drape (“a drape”, noun), from Old French draper (“to drape; to full cloth”), from drap (“cloth, drabcloth”), from Late Latin drappus, drapus (“drabcloth, kerchief”), a word first recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne, probably from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”, literally “that which is struck or for striking”), from Proto-Germanic *drapiz (“a strike, hit, blow”) and Proto-Germanic *drēpiz (“intended for striking, to be beaten”), both from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to beat, crush, make or become thick”). Cognate with English drub (“to beat”), North Frisian dreep (“a blow”), Low German drapen, dräpen (“to strike”), German treffen (“to meet”), Swedish dräpa (“to slay”). More at drub.

Phrases

  • drape off
  • grand drape
  • main drape

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Word family

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Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.