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  1. kerchief love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A woman's square scarf, often worn as a head covering.
  2. n. A handkerchief.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A head-dress composed of a simple square or oblong piece of linen, silk, or other material, worn folded, tied, pinned, or otherwise fastened about the head, or more or less loosely attached, so as to cover or drape the head and shoulders. Some traces of its early form and use still survive in the costumes of different parts of Europe, especially among the country people.
  2. n. A similar square of linen, cotton, or silk, worn on or used about the person for other purposes than covering the head. Compare handkerchief, neckerchief, and napkin.
  3. n. One who wears a kerchief; a woman.
  4. To attire with a kerchief; hood.

Wiktionary

  1. n. old-fashioned A piece of cloth used to cover the head.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A square of fine linen worn by women as a covering for the head; hence, anything similar in form or material, worn for ornament on other parts of the person; -- mostly used in compounds
  2. n. A lady who wears a kerchief.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a square scarf that is folded into a triangle and worn over the head or about the neck

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old French couvrechief, from couvrir ("to cover") + chief ("head"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English coverchef, curchef, from Anglo-Norman courchief (variant of Old French couvrechef) and from Old French couvrechef : covrir, to cover; see cover + chef, head; see chief. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Good luck with everything this week – and the kerchief is adorable”

    Creative Every Day, Part 11: Recovery « Looking for Roots

  • “She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Frank asked Nur al-Din anent the maker of the kerchief, he answered, saying, “In very sooth this kerchief is the handiwork of my mother, who made it for me with her own hand.””

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

  • “To prevent such a calamity, the kerchief is worn hooded over the eyes, so as to exclude unholy sights.”

    The Promised Land

  • “Though she was in kerchief and mantle, and appeared to more than usual advantage in that négligé, the prince affected not to look at her, but talked continually about his business to her husband, who had always had the management of it.”

    The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre

  • “82This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action suggests its meaning.”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

  • “491 But one of the merchants said to him, Know thou, O my son, that the value of this kerchief is an hundred dinars at most and that to an eager purchaser, and if this Frank pay thee down a thousand for it, thy profit will be nine hundred dinars, and what gain canst thou desire greater than this gain?”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

  • “[FN#82] This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action suggests its meaning.”

    Arabian nights. English

  • “I heard your plan, and I did follow you in the poncho and kerchief, meaning to hold up the stage first, and leave it to Crosby and Curtis to prove you did it.”

    Ranson's Folly

  • “Married women wear coarse chemises and aprons of homespun linen; and their braided hair coiled on top of the head imparts a coronet shape to the gay cotton kerchief which is folded across the brow and knotted at the nape of the neck.”

    Russian Rambles

  • “A picture of Christ in the mourning widow's chamber; a "mater dolorosa," in the distracted mother's home; a "kerchief" of the Holy Virgin, spotlessly white, like the glorious spirit, above the bed of olden times, are surely elevating, and honorable presences, the recollections which lead us to them are holy and imperishable, as is the devotion which bows the knee before them.”

    Debts of Honor

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synonyms (5)

Words with the same meaning

  1. kercher
  1. curch
  1. headkerchief
  1. neckpiece
  1. handkerchief

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. scarf

hyponyms (2)

Words that are more specific

  1. headscarf
  1. neckerchief

same context (18)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. scarf
  2. turban
  3. cravat
  1. blouse
  2. stocking
  3. pantaloons
  1. parasol
  2. sash
  3. frock
  1. petticoat
  2. pajamas
  3. bodice
  1. bonnet
  2. vest
  3. underwear
  1. smock
  2. neckerchief
  3. bandanna

reverse dictionary (36)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. keverchief
  2. neckerchief
  3. headscarf
  4. courchef
  5. curcheff
  6. Kerch
  7. keverchef
  1. madras
  2. enkerchiefed
  3. courche
  4. kercher
  5. kerchief
  6. kerchiefed
  7. Therese
  1. mandil
  2. napkin
  3. perikephalaia
  4. powting-cloth
  5. rail
  6. analav
  7. binnogue
  1. chercher
  2. clere
  3. curch
  4. enkerchief
  5. headdress
  6. head-kerchief
  7. head-rail
  1. kerchy
  2. do-rag
  3. necktie
  4. peplus
  5. cointoise
  6. kekryphalos
  7. lint
  1. pyx-cloth

tags (1)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. gesundheit

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tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘kerchief’

  1. keverchief

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‘kerchief’ has been looked up 1850 times, loved by 1 person, added to 19 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 20.