Bayeux tapestry

American

[bey-yoo, bah-, ba-yœ] / beɪˈju, bɑ-, baˈjœ /

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

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See Examples For:

Bayeux tapestry

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

I’m not talking about the news this week that France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has given the go-ahead for the Bayeux tapestry to visit Britain.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 19, 2018

This is where the Bayeux tapestry becomes not just an image of history but an embodiment of its living complexity.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 19, 2018

A comet, depicted in the famous Bayeux tapestry, also appeared in the sky on the eve of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

From Time Magazine Archive

We may have occasion to advert to the Bayeux tapestry again, when we come to narrate the exploits which it was the particular object of this historical embroidery to illustrate and adorn.

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