drape
Americanverb (used with object)
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drapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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draped,
past participle, past
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draping
present participle
-
to cover or hang with cloth or other fabric, especially in graceful folds; adorn with drapery.
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to adjust (curtains, clothes, etc.) into graceful folds, attractive lines, etc.
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to arrange, hang, or let fall carelessly.
Don't drape your feet over the chair!
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Medicine/Medical, Surgery. to place cloth so as to surround (a part to be examined, treated, or operated upon).
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(in reinforced-concrete construction) to hang (reinforcement) in a certain form between two points before pouring the concrete.
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to put a black cravat on (a flagstaff ) as a token of mourning.
verb (used without object)
-
drapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
draped,
past participle, past
-
draping
present participle
noun
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drapes
plural
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a curtain or hanging of heavy fabric and usually considerable length, especially either of a pair for covering a window and drawn open and shut horizontally.
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either of a pair of similar curtains extending or draped at the sides of a window, French doors, or the like as decoration.
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manner or style of hanging.
the drape of a skirt.
verb
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(tr) to hang or cover with flexible material or fabric, usually in folds; adorn
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to hang or arrange or be hung or arranged, esp in folds
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(tr) to place casually and loosely; hang
she draped her arm over the back of the chair
noun
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(often plural) a cloth or hanging that covers something in folds; drapery
-
the way in which fabric hangs
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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drapesimple
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drapessimple
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have drapedperfect
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has drapedperfect
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am drapingprogressive
-
are drapingprogressive
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is drapingprogressive
-
have been drapingperfect progressive
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has been drapingperfect progressive
Past
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drapedsimple
-
had drapedperfect
-
was drapingprogressive
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were drapingprogressive
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had been drapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of drape
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French draper, derivative of drap cloth ( see drab 1)
Explanation
The drape of fabric or material is the way it looks — the shape it takes — when it's hanging. If you're sewing a dress, you need to use fabric with the right sort of drape. You can describe the drape of a piece of velvet or cotton — and you can also use drape to mean "curtain." You could even say, "I just love the drape of those drapes!" When drape is a verb, it means "to cover loosely," as when you drape a quilt over your old sofa to hide its the rips and stains. In the 1940s and 50s, drape was also a slang term for a cool suit of clothes.
Vocabulary lists containing drape
I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79
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I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011
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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:
Team Italy has an Armani jacket to drape on anyone who hits a homer while downing his shot of coffee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
And I agree it should be socially acceptable to drape oneself in velvet External link.
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
Sometimes the agents would stage mannequins in the passenger seats, or drape curtains over the windshield, or put a bag over their heads to avoid being photographed.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2025
“Just drape them down and leave a little bit of the history of the building behind them.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
When my father brought me there each month, Mister Iponga would drape me in a tattered sheet and say, “What will it be?”
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
Randles added: "Once you've knitted with it and washed it, it drapes beautifully whereas sometimes when you knitting with synthetic it doesn't drape but this stuff does."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Wilson believes that Snow Secure—the high-tech insulated polystyrene blanket that unfolds like an accordion, then drapes over a pile of snow—is just the invention.
From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2026
She has this fantastic wallpaper that she did up the walls, across the ceiling, and turned into drapes.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
Three days after the gunfight, the gates were wide open, and window drapes billowed in the breeze.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Spanish moss drapes lazily off the twisted branches of the bald cypress trees.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
All our Instagrams were draped in sepia—grid posts only—where we celebrated latte art and selfies of our knocked knees.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
Accordingly the production has been scaled up to fill the theater: A giant American flag is draped on one side of the stage, a U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Police detained six activists who had draped Greenpeace protest banners from a monument on Jakarta's central Bundaran HI roundabout on Tuesday morning, before the student marches, according to Jeanny Sirait, a campaigner for the NGO.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
“Eventually, Mr. Seaver’s residence had a no-trespassing sign in the front yard and barbed wire draped across the handrails leading to the front door,” the filing alleged.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
A fuzzy blanket is draped over my legs, and out the window I see the abandoned train station of Someplace Safe.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
Dolly Parton’s estate has claimed that the late country music icon’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, went to extraordinary lengths to evade being served with a summons—including allegedly draping barbed wire around the entrance to his property.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Supporters waved Egyptian flags and Palestinian flags in support of nearby Gaza, as well as a poster of coach Hossam Hossan draping both flags over himself during the tournament.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
The show notes pointed to “the dancer’s wardrobe” as inspiration, embracing how fabric can have a mind of its own — gathering, draping, cascading.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
Curator Beverly Adams said ropes, scaffolding and draping blue fabric will be used to create theatrical set pieces around the show’s seven Kahlo works and dozen-odd Riveras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
The miller gathered the gold as I spun it, draping it around his neck and waist, and laughing all the while.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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