Nightcloth
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A cloth placed over a birdcage, used to simulate the darkness of night and settle the bird(s) into sleep.
"When the O’Haras were ten paces away, the bird suddenly swooped off the miner’s shoulder—the miner took no notice—and flew to a table on top of which reposed an elegant metal cage with a frilly nightcloth rolled up at the top. […] The fat woman rolled the nightcloth down over the cage and its nearly raped cockatoo and stalked off with it in high outrage."
- 2 A nightgown. rare
"(1895.) July 1, 1677.—Lady Mary Fletcher to her niece, Katherine Fleming. Pray tell your father that I omitted two suits of ribbon, a laced apron, and laced nightcloth, and a fan, all of which are necessaries as well as the smocks of which I said nothing."
Example
More examples"When the O’Haras were ten paces away, the bird suddenly swooped off the miner’s shoulder—the miner took no notice—and flew to a table on top of which reposed an elegant metal cage with a frilly nightcloth rolled up at the top. […] The fat woman rolled the nightcloth down over the cage and its nearly raped cockatoo and stalked off with it in high outrage."
Etymology
From night + cloth.
More for "nightcloth"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.