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coverlet

[kuhv-er-lit]
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noun
  1. Also cov·er·lid [kuhv-er-lid] /ˈkʌv ər lɪd/. a bed quilt that does not cover the pillow, used chiefly for warmth; bedspread.
  2. Archaic. any covering or cover.
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Origin of coverlet

1250–1300; Middle English coverlite < Anglo-French cuver-lit bedspread, equivalent to cuver to cover + lit bed < Latin lectus; akin to lie2, lay1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

comforterafghanspreadthrowquilt

Examples from the Web for coverlet

Historical Examples

  • The coverlet dropped from her breast; her hand was suspended with stiff fingers.

    Way of the Lawless

    Max Brand

  • Instead of reaching out for it, the sick man's hand lay on the coverlet.

    Roden's Corner

    Henry Seton Merriman

  • Trenchard climbed into bed, and settled himself under the coverlet.

    Mistress Wilding

    Rafael Sabatini

  • Give me a coverlet and I will sleep on the sofa here, and do you go to bed.

    The Memoires of Casanova, Complete

    Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

  • His arm, releasing my neck, fell stretched out on the coverlet.

    Romance

    Joseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer

British Dictionary definitions for coverlet

coverlet

noun
  1. another word for bedspread
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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

Word Origin and History for coverlet

n.

c.1300, perhaps a diminutive of cover (n.), but early form coverlite suggests an unrecorded Old French or folk-etymology *covre-lit, from covrir "to cover" + lit "bed" (see litter (n.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper