drape
/dɹeɪp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.74 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of a youth subculture distinguished by its sharp dress, especially peg-leg pants (1950s: e.g. Baltimore, MD). Antonym: square.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "The herringbone-twill sample is soft and smooth, with an easy drape that allows the fabric to move beautifully."
- "to drape a bust, a building, etc."
- "The whole people were still draped professionally."
- "These starry blossoms, pure and white, / Soft falling, falling, through the night, / Have draped the woods and mere."
- "The pair sat before a brilliant gold Buddha statue inside the ornate temple, built 150 years ago by the former Thai King – the supreme patriarch barefoot and draped in orange robes as they spoke."
- "I draped my towel over the radiator to dry."
Etymology
From Middle English drape (“a drape”, noun), from Old French draper (“to drape; to full cloth”), from drap (“cloth, drabcloth”), from Late Latin drappus, drapus (“drabcloth, kerchief”), a word first recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne, probably from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”, literally “that which is struck or for striking”), from Proto-Germanic *drapiz (“a strike, hit, blow”) and Proto-Germanic *drēpiz (“intended for striking, to be beaten”), both from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to beat, crush, make or become thick”). Cognate with English drub (“to beat”), North Frisian dreep (“a blow”), Low German drapen, dräpen (“to strike”), German treffen (“to meet”), Swedish dräpa (“to slay”). More at drub.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb