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cloth

Pronunciation: /klɒθ/

The English word “cloth” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes, woven fabric specifically.
  2. Specifically, a tablecloth, especially as spread before a meal or removed afterwards.
  3. A piece of cloth used for a particular purpose.
  4. Substance or essence; the whole of something complex.
  5. Appearance; seeming.
  6. A form of attire that represents a particular profession or status.
  7. The priesthood.

Etymology

From Middle English cloth, clath, from Old English clāþ (“cloth, clothes, covering, sail”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaiþ, from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą (“garment”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gleyt- (“to cling to, cleave, stick”) (compare Albanian ngjit (“to stick, attach, glue”)), a form of *gleh₁y- (“to smear; to stick”). Cognate with Scots clath (“cloth”), North Frisian klaid (“dress,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.