cloak
[klohk]
- a loose outer garment, as a cape or coat.
- something that covers or conceals; disguise; pretense: He conducts his affairs under a cloak of secrecy.
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- to cover with or as if with a cloak: She arrived at the opera cloaked in green velvet.
- to hide; conceal: The mission was cloaked in mystery.
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Origin of cloak
1175–1225; Middle English cloke (< Old French) < Medieval Latin cloca, variant of clocca bell-shaped cape, bell; see clock1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
shawlmantlemaskcamouflageveneerconcealshroudobscureveilblindguisefacadesemblanceshieldshowfrontfacedisguisepretextwrapExamples from the Web for cloak
Contemporary Examples
Some have innocuous-seeming URLs like cardpool.com or giftcardgranny.com, which cloak the sinister operations.
This is the conspiratorial mind using skepticism as a cloak for intellectual laziness.
Arm people with a cloak of anonymity and a shield of non-accountability, and watch the cavalcade of crazy charge.
Defending diversity, not a tool of oppression hidden beneath a cloak called “justice” or “equality.”
Meanwhile, on the stand, Morris presents his version of the facts under the cloak of immunity.
Historical Examples
She went to put on her hat and cloak, and presently they were in the street.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
When that was done she made a bundle of her cloak and shawl, and lay down in her clothes.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
The colonel threw his cloak about his shoulders, and hastened down to the carpenter's.
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
Then I rose, and detaching the silver ornament from my cloak, presented it to him.
Green MansionsW. H. Hudson
With that I raised my cloak so as to let him see for himself, turning my body round before him.
Green MansionsW. H. Hudson
cloak
- a wraplike outer garment fastened at the throat and falling straight from the shoulders
- something that covers or conceals
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- to cover with or as if with a cloak
- to hide or disguise
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French cloque, from Medieval Latin clocca cloak, bell; referring to the bell-like shape
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cloak
n.
late 13c., "long, loose outer garment," from Old North French cloque (Old French cloche, cloke) "travelling cloak," from Medieval Latin clocca "travelers' cape," literally "a bell," so called from the garment's bell-like shape (the word is thus a doublet of clock (n.1)). An article of everyday wear in England through 16c., somewhat revived 19c. as a fashion garment. Cloak-and-dagger (adj.) attested from 1848, said to be ultimately translating French de cape et d'épée, suggestive of stealthy violence and intrigue.
Other "cloak and dagger pieces," as Bouterwek tells us the Spaniards call their intriguing comedies, might be tried advantageously in the night, .... ["Levana; or the Doctrine of Education," English translation, London, 1848]
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v.
c.1500, from cloak (n.). Figuratively from 1540s. Related: Cloaked; cloaking.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper