doily

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“
Grave rubbing on silk machine stitched to a vintage doily, a scrap of a severely light damaged curtain, and finally onto a piece of fringed crochet.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A small ornamental mat, usually of lace or linen.
  2. noun A small table napkin.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • They maneuvered through the ceramic land mines and sat on doily-covered chairs. —  Hard News
  • The doily was delicate, a pattern Anna had long ago tried to teach Miranda. —  Dummy1.htm
  • The Deer horns were likely to ask questions she might not want to answer Miranda had taken to studying her mother's doily, trying to finish it as though she were trying to see the pattern of her life. —  Dummy1.htm
  • She knew the parlor, with its cherry wood curio cabinet and doily-covered end tables, was his favorite room in the house. —  TheMorning-AfterProposal
  • She moved around the room in quick, nervous motions, flitting from place to place like a butterfly, lighting only long enough to straighten a lace doily or fuss with the arrangement of cut flowers in the china pitcher on the carved cherry dresser. —  TAMI HOAG
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This word has been looked up 80 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. After Doily or Doyly, 18th-century London draper.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Said to be named from the first maker, Mr. Doily or Doyley, “a very respectable warehouseman, whose family had resided in the great old house next to Hodsoll's the banker's from the time of Queen Anne” (N. and Q.). The slight resemblance to English dial. (Norfolk) dwile, a small towel, a coarse napkin, from Dutch dwaal = English towel, appears to be accidental, but it may have affected the present use of the word.
 

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/ˈdɔɪli/
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