wimple
/ˈwɪmpəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.70 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A cloth which usually covers the head and is worn around the neck and chin. It was worn by women in medieval Europe and is still worn by nuns in certain orders.
noun
A ripple, as on the surface of water.
verb
To cover with a wimple.
Example Sentences
- "[T]he people all wore hosen and shoon and smocks and jupes and jerkins and wimples."
- "There are two tombs, each bearing effigies of a knight and his lady. One is 14th century, the other 15th century. The earlier knight wears chain mail and his lady has long, flowing hair. The later knight has plate armour, and his wife wears a wimple."
- "Even the unprecedented detail of the Urbanist regulations is still not sufficient to enable us to envisage with accuracy the appearance of the wimple or the other items that went to make up the habit."
- "this wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy"
- "IV A lovely Ladie[*] rode him faire beside, Upon a lowly Asse more white then snow, Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide 30 Under a vele, that wimpled was full low, And over all a blacke stole she did throw, As one that inly mournd: so was she sad, And heavie sat upon her palfrey slow; Seemed in heart some hidden care she had, 35 And by her in a line a milke white lambe she lad."
- "The wind wimples the surface of water."
Etymology
From Middle English wympel, wimpel, from Old English wimpel (“veil, an article of women's dress; a covering for the neck, a cloak, a hood”), from Proto-Germanic *wimpilaz (“wimple, scarf, veil”). Cognate with Scots wympill (“wimple”), Dutch wimpel (“streamer, pennant”), German Wimpel (“pennant”), Swedish vimpel (“pennant, banner”), Icelandic vimpill (“hood, cowl”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wympel, wimpel, *wimpilaz, wimplen