- Clothes
- Cloth Cloth (kl[o^]th; 115), n.; pl. {Cloths} (kl[o^][th]z;
115), except in the sense of garments, when it is {Clothes}
(kl[=o]thz or kl[=o]z). [OE. clath cloth, AS. cl[=a][thorn]
cloth, garment; akin to D. kleed, Icel. kl[ae][eth]i, Dan.
kl[ae]de, cloth, Sw. kl["a]de, 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.
[1913 Webster]
2. The dress; raiment. [Obs.] See {Clothes}. [1913 Webster]
I'll ne'er distust my God for cloth and bread. --Quarles. [1913 Webster]
3. The distinctive dress of any profession, especially of the clergy; hence, the clerical profession. [1913 Webster]
Appeals were made to the priesthood. Would they tamely permit so gross an insult to be offered to their cloth? --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
The cloth, the clergy, are constituted for administering and for giving the best possible effect to . . . every axiom. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
{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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
