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Wimple
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A cloth which usually covers the head and is worn around the neck and chin. It was worn by women in medieval Europe and is still worn by nuns in certain orders.
"There are two tombs, each bearing effigies of a knight and his lady. One is 14th century, the other 15th century. The earlier knight wears chain mail and his lady has long, flowing hair. The later knight has plate armour, and his wife wears a wimple."
- 2 headdress of cloth; worn over the head and around the neck and ears by medieval women wordnet
- 3 A fold or pleat in cloth.
- 4 A ripple, as on the surface of water.
- 5 A curve or bend.
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- 6 A flag or streamer.
- 1 To cover with a wimple.
"this wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy"
- 2 To draw down; to lower, like a veil.
"IV A lovely Ladie[*] rode him faire beside, Upon a lowly Asse more white then snow, Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide 30 Under a vele, that wimpled was full low, And over all a blacke stole she did throw, As one that inly mournd: so was she sad, And heavie sat upon her palfrey slow; Seemed in heart some hidden care she had, 35 And by her in a line a milke white lambe she lad."
- 3 To cause to appear as if laid in folds or plaits; to cause to ripple or undulate.
"The wind wimples the surface of water."
- 4 To flutter.
"Stars wavered and wimpled in the black waters of the Hudson as a launch put out in silence from the foot of Twenty-seventh Street."
Etymology
From Middle English wympel, wimpel, from Old English wimpel (“veil, an article of women's dress; a covering for the neck, a cloak, a hood”), from Proto-Germanic *wimpilaz (“wimple, scarf, veil”). Cognate with Scots wympill (“wimple”), Dutch wimpel (“streamer, pennant”), German Wimpel (“pennant”), Swedish vimpel (“pennant, banner”), Icelandic vimpill (“hood, cowl”).
From Middle English wimplen (“to cover, conceal; to fold, drape”).
From wimple, a metonymic occupational surname for a maker of wimples.
See also for "wimple"
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Unscramble this word: wimple