Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A heavy fabric interwoven with a rich, raised design.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A silken fabric variegated with gold and silver, or having raised flowers, foliage, and other ornaments: also applied to other stuffs wrought and enriched in like manner.
- n. A kind of bronze-powder used for decorating.
- To weave with a pattern in relief, for the ornamentation and enrichment of the fabric.
Wiktionary
- n. countable, uncountable A thick heavy fabric into which raised patterns have been woven.
- n. An item decorated with brocade.
- v. To decorate fabric with raised woven patterns.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Silk stuff, woven with gold and silver threads, or ornamented with raised flowers, foliage, etc.; -- also applied to other stuffs thus wrought and enriched.
WordNet 3.0
- v. weave a design into (textiles)
- n. thick heavy expensive material with a raised pattern
Etymologies
- Spanish or Portuguese brocado, from Italian brocato, from brocco, twisted thread, from Vulgar Latin *brocca, spike, from Latin brocchus, projecting, of Celtic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“At a time when the market was full of what she called "brocade and chintz with cabbage roses," Florence introduced a style of her own influenced by the modernism of the Bauhaus school, and the hand-woven fabrics and prints she commissioned were clean and sophisticated, with few frills.”
“He is a gentleman, affable, well dressed in Chinese brocade, and less unresponsive than are most Chinese; it was indeed a pleasure to be "conducted" by him.”
“His wife rustled by his side in brocade which might almost stand alone for stiffness, propped upon heels that gave a majestic altitude to her tall, thin figure.”
“Quite a few collections really translated it in the idea of brocade: French tapestries, French wall coverings, French fabrics, he says.”
“In Autumn the leaves of the tree become purple or red, and they are so pretty that people call them "mountain brocade.”
“History served as a kind of brocade curtain, against which ordinary people (for the most part) strutted their stuff.”
“Wrap a turd in any kind of brocade and you still have-a turd.”
“The other three were nearly as lavish as the first, being made of "brocade," blue cloth of gold, and crimson velvet.”
“On one channel, someone was saying he'd consulted "the makeup ladies" and they said Michelle's dress was "brocade" so they were going with that.”
““Sundus,” a kind of brocade (low Lat. brocare to figure cloth), silk worked in high relief with gold and silver.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘brocade’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
babeldom, baccate, bacchanal, bacciferous, bacciform, baccivorous, bacillicide, backstay, bactericide, baculiform, baculine, baculum and 582 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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Shopping From Home (For Words)
The list begins with evocative words I found in a Bed Bath & Beyond catalog, but other words in a similar vein are welcome, with two simple rules: they must come out of catalogs, and they can't...
sconce, mercer, urn, crock, pique, taffeta, chenille, ensemble, crescent, flocked, stockpot, microfiber and 40 more...
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GRE
abase, broach, brocade, burgeon, bungle, bureaucracy, burly, burnished, browbeat, brusque, bucolic, buffoonery and 21 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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Quirkstyle
Fashion elegance, oddities, styles, and cool garments.
tatterdemalion, froufrou, gingham, argyle, corset, hoop skirt, pantaloons, bloomers, jaunty, seersucker, twill, ganguro and 126 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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Wharton, Edith. Age of Innocence. 1920
A list of difficult words for L2-12 learners.
Faust, erection, metropolitan, splendor, shabby, conservatives, cherished, inconvenient, clung, acoustics, coupe, scramble and 261 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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Words I will probably never use
décolleté, pendragon, amerce, viviparous, dragoon, brigand, outlaw, outlawry, lugubrious, boor, contretemps, decrepit and 151 more...
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Sweet Smoke of Rhetoric
The ones with which I flavor my speech, and the ones I love to find peppered in literature.
perspicacious, acerbic, vituperation, loquacious, castigate, vitriolic, scintillating, provenance, frolic, attendant, pursuant, epistemology and 313 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for brocade.
chained_bear A woven fabric, usually of silk, with raised designs formed by colored threads; or any one-sided fabric with raised designs. See also damask. Feb 6, 2007