Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A cloth wound twice around the head and face, so as to leave exposed only the eyes and nose: used by the Tuaregs of the Sahara.
Examples
“But this was not the poet's only preparative measure -- another will be presently explained; and a third was to assume the dress of a Bedouin, that he might not be known, covering his face, the eyes only excepted, with a _litham_ (piece of drapery), as is usual with the Arabs of the desert.”
“The principal commerce consists in native produce, viz., cotton cloth, woven and dyed here and in the neighbouring towns in the forms either of _tobes_, the oblong piece of dress of dark colour worn by the women, or plaids of various colours, and the black _litham_.”
Great African Travellers From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley
“He wore a scarlet gold-braided coat, an immense red turban, and a huge black litham, covering the upper and lower part of his face, and nearly all his features.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“The Touarick, from his habit of wearing the litham, does not like a beard, which, indeed, could rarely be seen.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“Saharan traveller, having his mouth well covered with the litham, will go at least twenty-four hours longer, fasting in abstinence, whilst his lips will not be parched with thirst.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“His mouth and chin were covered with a thin blue cotton wrapper, a portion of the _litham_.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“The litham is nothing more than a thin wrapper, which is first wound round the head, and then made to cover the whole of the forehead and partially the eyes, and the lower part of the face, especially the mouth.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“The litham shelters the eyes effectually from the hot sand grains, borne on the deadly wing of the Simoom.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“Highness, the _litham_ being entirely removed from his face [86].”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
“It is also difficult to distinguish the one people from the other when they wear the litham.”
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘litham’.
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Historical Costume Box
This is just sort of my "unsorted pit" of costumes to be organized later. It's a really broad topic, so right now, anything goes! Thanks for the contributions!
baldric, bliaut, coif, cote-hardie, farthingale, houppelande, partlet, tabard, kirtle, wimple, buskin, greatcoat and 33 more...
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Vivid vocabulary
saturnine, frisson, sopor, petrichor, crucible, paroxysm, xenium, lagniappe, soubrette, clyster, tarassis, imbroglio and 47 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for litham.
jinglebelljosie from The Dictionary of Costumes; R. Turner Wilcox: "a sheer embroidered square folded diagonally to cover nose, mouth, and neck, the ends tied, worn by Arab women. Men also use a plain litham when the sand is blowing. see djellaba."
Basically, a cloth-face mask, similiar to what we would think of a "ninja mask". Aug 18, 2008