wimple

[ wim-puhl ]
See synonyms for wimple on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a woman's headcloth drawn in folds about the chin, formerly worn out of doors, and still in use by some nuns.

  2. Chiefly Scot.

    • a fold or wrinkle, as in cloth.

    • a curve, bend, or turn, as in a road or river.

verb (used with object),wim·pled, wim·pling.
  1. to cover or muffle with or as if with a wimple.

  2. to cause to ripple or undulate, as water.

  1. Archaic. to veil or enwrap.

verb (used without object),wim·pled, wim·pling.
  1. to ripple, as water.

  2. Archaic. to lie in folds, as a veil.

  1. Chiefly Scot. to follow a curving course, as a road or river.

Origin of wimple

1
before 1100; (noun) Middle English wimple, wimpel,Old English wimpel; cognate with Dutch, Low German wimpel,Old Norse vimpill; (v.) Middle English: to wrap in a wimple, derivative of the noun

Words Nearby wimple

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wimple in a sentence

  • The hair, for convenience, had always been plaited in two plaits and coiled round the head, where it lay concealed by the wimple.

    English Costume | Dion Clayton Calthrop
  • The large wimple was still worn wrapped about the head, and the hair was still carefully hidden.

    English Costume | Dion Clayton Calthrop
  • About this time came the fashion of the chin-band, and again the glory of the hair was hidden under the wimple.

    English Costume | Dion Clayton Calthrop
  • For the head a wimple made of white linen or perhaps of silk; this she would put above her head, leaving the neck bare.

    English Costume | Dion Clayton Calthrop
  • The poorer woman wore always the hood, the wimple tied under the chin, or plain plaited hair.

    English Costume | Dion Clayton Calthrop

British Dictionary definitions for wimple

wimple

/ (ˈwɪmpəl) /


noun
  1. a piece of cloth draped around the head to frame the face, worn by women in the Middle Ages and still a part of the habit of some nuns

  2. Scot a curve or bend, as in a river

verb
  1. rare to ripple or cause to ripple or undulate

  2. (tr) archaic to cover with or put a wimple on

  1. archaic (esp of a veil) to lie or cause to lie in folds or pleats

Origin of wimple

1
Old English wimpel; related to Old Saxon wimpal, Middle Dutch wumpel, Middle High German bewimpfen to veil

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012