cloth

American  

[klawth, kloth] / klɔθ, klɒθ /

noun

PLURAL

cloths

1. a fabric formed by weaving, felting, etc., from wool, hair, silk, flax, cotton, or other fiber, used for garments, upholstery, and many other items.

2. a piece of such a fabric for a particular purpose.

   an altar cloth.

3. the particular attire of any profession, especially that of the clergy.

4. the cloth, the clergy.

   men of the cloth.

5. Nautical.

   1. one of the lengths of canvas or duck of standard width sewn side by side to form a sail, awning, or tarpaulin.

   2. any of various pieces of canvas or duck for reinforcing certain areas of a sail.

   3. a number of sails taken as a whole.

6. Obsolete.  a garment; clothing.

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adjective

1. of or made of cloth.

   She wore a cloth coat trimmed with fur.

2. clothbound.

cloth British  

/ klɒθ /

noun

1. 1. a fabric formed by weaving, felting or knitting wool, cotton, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cloth bag

2. a piece of such fabric used for a particular purpose, as for a dishcloth

3. 1. the clothes worn by a clergyman

   2. the clergy

4. obsolete  clothing

5. nautical any of the panels of a sail

6. a piece of coloured fabric, used on the stage as scenery

7. a garment in a traditional non-European style

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cloth Idioms  

1. see out of whole cloth; sackcloth and ashes.

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Other Word Forms

• clothlike adjective
• undercloth noun

Etymology

Origin of cloth

before 900; Middle English cloth, clath cloth, garment, Old English clāth; cognate with Dutch kleed, German Kleid

Example Sentences

Northern bankers financed slave mortgages and plantation finances, even as Northern manufacturers profited from selling cloth and shoes for enslaved workers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Long processions of women, many of them bearing a takli or spindle to honour Gandhi's commitment to homespun khadi cloth, take over Bombay's streets, quite literally pushing men to the very margins.

From BBC

Because “the demand for woven cloth could fluctuate wildly,” she writes, “as quickly as weavers remembered the good wages, memories of periods of acute hardship came flooding back.”

From The Wall Street Journal

But not all software companies are cut from the same cloth.

From Barron's

But not all software companies are cut from the same cloth.

From Barron's

Related Words

• cotton
• goods
• material
• stuff