Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small square of cloth used especially for wiping the nose or mouth.
  • noun A large piece of cloth worn as a decorative article; a scarf.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To use a handkerchief; make signals with a handkerchief.
  • noun A square piece of cloth, usually linen or silk, carried about the person for the purpose of wiping the face or nose.
  • noun A neckcloth: a neckerchief.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face or hands.
  • noun A piece of cloth shaped like a handkerchief to be worn about the neck; a neckerchief; a neckcloth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A piece of cloth, usually square and often fine and elegant, carried for wiping the face, eyes, nose or hands.
  • noun A piece of cloth shaped like a handkerchief to be worn about the neck; a neckerchief or neckcloth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a square piece of cloth used for wiping the eyes or nose or as a costume accessory

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From hand +‎ kerchief.

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Examples

  • The drawer was a family portrait in handkerchief format.

    Herta Müller - Nobel Lecture 2009

  • Pantyhose are the funniest when you have to assit. they just keep coming, like the handkerchief from the clown's mouth.

    The Gun Dog Ate My Sock 2010

  • Pantyhose are the funniest when you have to assit. they just keep coming, like the handkerchief from the clown's mouth.

    The Gun Dog Ate My Sock 2010

  • Although I have spoken Romanian for decades, it was only while talking with Oskar Pastior that I realized that the Romanian word for handkerchief is batistă.

    Herta Müller - Nobel Lecture 2009

  • With his left hand he pulled a large white handkerchief from the pocket of his black coat, and with it he wiped off the knife and his gloved right hand which had been holding it; then he put the handkerchief away.

    Excerpt: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 2008

  • The way of carrying money in the corner of a pocket-handkerchief is still common.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • She checked her sobs, wiped her eyes with a morsel of lace she called a handkerchief, and, sweeping in a stately manner to the door, said, with the extreme of patrician hauteur:

    Nell, of Shorne Mills or, One Heart's Burden Charles Garvice

  • The cow-boy then took out an old dirty rag, which I suppose he called a handkerchief, unfolded it, and produced three cards, saying, "Them thar fellows gave me these ar cards, and I'm going to larn that ar game, so as when I get back to Texas I can beat all the boys."

    Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi George H. Devol

  • I tried to shield my face with my fan and at last regained my composure, and tried, in sly fashion, to dry my eyes with the bit of lace I called my handkerchief, and which I found a very poor substitute for the substantial lawn hitherto used.

    Medoline Selwyn's Work Hattie E. Colter

  • Whenever a lamp flashed in at us, I had a glimpse of her progress toward composure -- now she was drying her eyes with the bit of lace she called a handkerchief; now her bare arms were up, and with graceful fingers she was arranging her hair; now she was straight and still, the soft, fluffy material with which her wrap was edged drawn close about her throat.

    Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 Various

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