cloche
Americannoun
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cloches
plural
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a woman's close-fitting hat with a deep, bell-shaped crown and often a narrow, turned-down brim.
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a bell-shaped glass cover placed over a plant to protect it from frost and to force its growth.
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a bell-shaped metal or glass cover placed over a plate to keep food warm or fresh.
noun
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a bell-shaped cover used to protect young plants
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a woman's almost brimless close-fitting hat, typical of the 1920s and 1930s
Usage
What does cloche mean? A cloche is a type of round, close-fitting hat with a bell-shaped crown that was popularly worn by women in the 1920s and 1930s. Cloches often have a narrow, turned-down brim. They are sometimes called cloche hats. Cloche is also the name of the (often silver) dome used to keep food warm that you typically see in stereotypical images of tuxedoed servers bringing food to tables at fancy restaurants. The word can also refer to other types of serving dishes, especially bell-shaped ones. Cloche can also refer to a cover used to protect plants during early growth. It is sometimes called a garden cloche. Example: Franny is trying to look like a 1920s flapper in her new red cloche, and I think she’s pulling it off.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cloche
1905–10; < French: bell, bell-jar < Medieval Latin clocca. See cloak
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.
See Examples For:
On view are examples of bulbous book bindings, acid-etched vases, satin capes, parchment-covered cabinets, angular decanters, diamond-decorated cloche hats, geometric malachite brooches, stark bas-reliefs, Brancusi-faced collar ads, and boxy, black-lacquer screens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
Presented covered by a cloche, you’ll first indulge in the smoke as the dish is revealed before enjoying the two spoonfuls of goodness.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2024
The flipside was that much of Scotland and the UK remained cool and wet under a cloche of disappointment.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2023
Costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones has joyously remade key looks, from Houston’s hair bow and arm warmers to the stunning wedding dress with beaded and sequined cloche hat.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2022
The ladies wore long strings of cultured pearls that hung down to their knees, and cloche hats that hid their eyebrows.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
The visual of a dinner cart being wheeled out with three heads under cloches was transformed into an online dating show where contestants can only see each other’s heads and compete in challenges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
Last year, a group of older East African people did a trial run of okra, a staple in Ethiopian and Eritrean dishes, setting plastic cloches over the row to retain heat, with some success.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2023
Cheese is omnipresent: Supermarkets often have not one but two whole aisles dedicated to the product, and cheese cloches are available in the local equivalent of Target.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2023
Keeping her fingernails cut short, Mr. Beane made tams, turbans, panamas, sailors and cloches.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2022
When severe frost prevails the lights or cloches are rarely taken off except to gather mature specimens; and no water is given directly overhead to the plants for fear of chilling them and checking growth.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various
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