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 )
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.
Team Italy has an Armani jacket to drape on anyone who hits a homer while downing his shot of coffee.
Shopping malls, usually also draped in dazzling displays, were asked to stop the lighting.
From Barron's
The footage ends with a wide shot of mourners bowing their heads in front of a group of at least 18 coffins draped in the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
From BBC
The town had built a platform in front of the Empire Café and draped it with flags and clusters of balloons.
From Literature
In the central plaza you’ll see swaths of handwoven fabric draped like canopies over the cobbled streets — splashes of pink, blue, yellow and green offering welcome shade from the afternoon heat.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
