Cloth Definition

klôth, klŏth
cloths
noun
cloths
A woven, knitted, or pressed fabric of fibrous material, as cotton, wool, silk, hair, or synthetic fibers.
Webster's New World
A piece of such fabric for a specific use.
Tablecloth, washcloth, loincloth.
Webster's New World
Canvas.
American Heritage
A sail.
American Heritage
The characteristic attire of a profession, especially that of the clergy.
American Heritage
adjective
Made of cloth.
Webster's New World
Webster's New World
idiom
in cloth
  • With a clothbound binding; as a clothbound book.
American Heritage
the cloth
  • the usual or identifying dress of a profession, esp. of the clergy
  • the clergy collectively
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Cloth

Noun

Singular:
cloth
Plural:
cloths

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Cloth

  • in cloth
  • the cloth

Origin of Cloth

  • 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”), West Frisian kleed (“cloth, article of clothing”), Dutch kleed (“robe, dress”), Low German kleed (“dress, garment”), German Kleid (“dress, garment”), Danish klæde (“cloth, dress”), Swedish kläde (“cloth”), Icelandic klæði (“cloth, dressing”), Old English clīþan (“to adhere, stick”). Compare Albanian ngjit (“to stick, attach, glue”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English clāth

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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