Middle English Dictionary Entry

clōth n.
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Entry Info

Forms clōth n. Also clod, clogh, clotȝ, kloth; cloith, clouth, kloit; clath, clad, klagh, klath, clot; (in cpds.) clat-, clot-, klo-; pl. clothes, etc., clos, cloisse, kloyys, clas, gloþis, (early) clathen.
Etymology OE clāþ

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1a.
(a) A piece of woven or felted fabric; a cloth; (b) ~ of gold (silver), a piece of gold (silver) brocade; also, a garment, hanging, etc., made of cloth of gold (silver); (c) ~ of Arras (Coggeshale, etc.), a piece of cloth made at Arras, etc.; ~ of bleu (violet, etc.), a piece of blue (violet, etc.) cloth; ~ of colour, a piece of colored fabric; ~ of rai, a striped cloth; ~ of silk (velvet, etc.), a piece of silk (velvet, etc.); ~ of werk, a piece of ornamented or brocaded cloth.
Show 40 Quotations
1b.
With reference to specific uses: (a) a tablecloth [cp. bord ~]; (b) a bed covering; pl. bedclothes, bedding [bed ~ → bed]; pleien under ~, have sexual intercourse; (c) a towel [hond ~, touaille ~ → hond, touaille]; (d) a cloth used for straining, a strainer; (e) a cloth placed on or before an altar [auter ~ → auter]; (f) a decorative cloth, a hanging, a tapestry; ~ of estat, some kind of hanging or drapery used by the king; peinted ~, steined ~, decorative hanging or tapestry; (g) a sail [seil ~ → seil]; (h) a bandage, a dressing for a wound; (i) bulting ~, crisme ~, goun ~, quishen ~, sepulcre ~, shirte ~, windwe (winden) ~ → bulting, crisme, goun, quishen, sepulcre, shirte, windwen.
Show 61 Quotations
2.
A piece of fabric of a definite length and breadth; half a ~, hol ~, [brod ~ → brod adj.].
Show 6 Quotations
3.
(a) A cloth garment; pl. clothes, clothing; (b) bodi clothes, ?fig. the body; bride clothes, wedding garment(s [see also bride]; clothes of dol, mourning; clothes of honeste, respectable dress, fine clothes; clothes of joie, fig. joy; clothes of religioun, garb of a priest, monk, etc.; seculer (worldli) clothes, garb of a layman; clothes of widwehod, widow's weeds; barm ~, feste ~, brid-ale ~ → barm, feste, brid-ale; (c) cloth for wrapping a baby; pl. swaddling clothes; (d) a shroud; pl. grave clothes.
Show 47 Quotations
4.
(a) Clothing, garments; also fig.; commune ~, lay garb; wommanes ~, woman's clothing; (b) vestments of a priest; (c) mete and ~, food and clothing; mete and drink and ~, etc.
Show 34 Quotations
5.
(a) A woven or felted fabric, cloth; (b) ~ of gold (silver), cloth brocaded with gold (silver) thread; (c) ~ of Arras (Gaunt, etc.), cloth made (or originally made) at Arras (Ghent, etc.); ~ of colour, dyed or colored cloth; ~ of lake, fine linen, lake; ~ of lin (wolle), linen (woolen) cloth; crest ~, quishen ~, sak ~ → crest, quishen, sak.
Show 44 Quotations
6.
(a) Anat. A membrane; (b) med. a skin disease, an outbreaking of pimples or pustules.
Show 8 Quotations
7.
In proverbs: the ~ is al of another heue, the case is altogether different; etc.
Show 4 Quotations
8.
In cpds. and combs.: (a) ~ bier, an officer of a guild in charge of buying cloth; ~ maker, a maker of cloth; ~ man, a maker or seller of cloth; ~ monger, ~ seller, a cloth merchant; (b) ~ arwe, a kind of arrow; ~ feiere, a fair at which cloth is bought and sold; ~ hous, ?a house in which cloth is made or stored; ~ market, cloth market; ~ sak, a bag to hold clothing; ~ sheres, shears for cutting or trimming cloth; (c) ~ making, manufacture of cloth; ~ walken, to full cloth.
Show 39 Quotations
9.
A bale of wool fleeces [?different word].
Show 3 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Sense 9. appears to belong to the commercial vocabulary of the Flemish wool trade and is likely Flemish in origin (cp. Flemish cleet, clede = 'sarpeler') -- but also appears in Scots: see DOST s.v. clath(e, sense 5. 'A pack of skins' illustrated by a single example from 1449 (Aberd. B. Rec. I. 18: "Ilke merchande man ... sal gif in honor of God ... iiij grotis of the clath of skynnis").

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • a1500 Orfeo (Hrl 3810)34/378 : Sche lay vnder an ympe-tre; By her glowes [Auch: cloþes] he wyst it was sche.
    • Note: New form: pl. (?error) glowes.
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 3.(a).
  • ?c1400(1379) Daniel *Treat.Uroscopy (Roy 17.D.1)f.69va (2.10) : In autumpne, do on most close & kepe þe warmest.
    • Note: Additional quot. for sense 3.(a).
  • a1525(?a1437) Cov.Leet Bk.()187 : The orden that euery walker withe-in this Cite..walke no Cloth & wete hym, but yeff the seyde Cloth bere the lengeth off xxiiij yerdes atte leste..and yeff so be that hit wol-not bere the seyde lengeth, than that the walker Teynter hym out to the lengethe off xv yerdes.
    • Note: Quot. postdates sense 5.(a).
    Note: Regulations re. the length of 'cloth'
Note: The list of variant spellings in the form section is incomplete and needs revision to accord with standards of later volumes of the MED.--notes per MLL

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. cloth.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 1a.(c)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. cloth of silk.

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