Bayeux tapestry

American

[bey-yoo, bah-, ba-yœ] / beɪˈyu, bɑ-, baˈyœ /

noun

a strip of embroidered linen 231 feet (70 meters) long and 20 inches (50 centimeters) wide, depicting the Norman conquest of England and dating from around 1100.

Bayeux tapestry British

noun

an 11th- or 12th-century embroidery in Bayeux, nearly 70.5 m (231 ft) long by 50 cm (20 inches) high, depicting the Norman conquest of England

"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

Etymology

Origin of Bayeux tapestry

After Bayeux, France, the town in which it was made

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Cullinan said they "send and receive thousands of loans each year - including ancient frescoes and textiles which are older than the Bayeux tapestry".

From BBC • Jan. 14, 2026

Yet any attempt to twist the Bayeux tapestry into petty patriotism looks desperate and doomed.

From The Guardian • Jan. 19, 2018

Photograph: Spencer Arnold/Getty Images I recall, from my school days, being quite unimpressed by the Bayeux tapestry; my eyes would glaze over as we were being obliged to admire it.

From The Guardian • May 28, 2013

Men did not make the Bayeux tapestry, or embroider the gold-worked opus Anglicanum chasubles that were among the supreme glories of medieval art.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Bayeux tapestry has lasted nearly a thousand years.

From William the Conqueror Makers of History by Abbott, Jacob

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023