drape
Americanverb (used with object)
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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)
noun
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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
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the way in which fabric hangs
Other Word Forms
- drapability noun
- drapable adjective
- drapeability noun
- drapeable adjective
Etymology
Origin of drape
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French draper, derivative of drap cloth ( 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.
And I agree it should be socially acceptable to drape oneself in velvet External link.
From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025
The altar frontal presents the Pentecost, as if on stage, enacted by high-relief figures, framed by a sinuous drape.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 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
Titled Gamchha: From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary, it displayed more than 250 pieces of the short drape from 14 Indian states to show the variations of the scarf-towel across regions.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2025
Not content to show up under the canopy wearing her charity clothes, one particular bride-to-be had her fiancé barter cigarettes with a soldier for his old parachute, which had the perfect drape for a gown.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
