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• draper
  draper

  noun

  a dealer in cloth; a retail merchant or clerk who sells piece goods.
• Draper
  Draper

  noun

  Henry, 1837–82, U.S. astronomer.

draper

¹ American  

[drey-per] / ˈdreɪ pər /

noun

British.

1. a dealer in cloth; a retail merchant or clerk who sells piece goods.

2. a retail merchant or clerk who sells clothing and dry goods.

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Draper ² American  

[drey-per] / ˈdreɪ pər /

noun

1. Henry, 1837–82, U.S. astronomer.

2. his father John William, 1811–82, U.S. chemist, physiologist, historian, and writer; born in England.

3. Ruth, 1884–1956, U.S. diseuse and writer of character sketches.

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draper ¹ British  

/ ˈdreɪpə /

noun

1. a dealer in fabrics and sewing materials

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Draper ² British  

/ ˈdreɪpə /

noun

1. Henry. 1837–82, US astronomer, who contributed to stellar classification and spectroscopy

2. his father, John William. 1811–82, US chemist and historian, born in England, made the first photograph of the moon

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Draper Scientific  

/ drā′pər /

1. American astronomer who developed methods for photographing celestial objects and phenomena. He became the first to photograph a stellar spectrum (1872) and a nebula (1880).

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Etymology

Origin of draper

1325–75; Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French drapier, equivalent to drap cloth + -ier -ier ²; see -er ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

draper Draper

A draper kneeling behind her shook out the hem while the costume designer looked on with satisfaction.

From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2023

At the same time, Leeuwenhoek mostly continued with his careers as a draper and a world-renowned expert on developing microscopes.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2023

It's that mail order shopping industry, now worth billions, which was inspired by a little known 19th Century Welsh draper who lived "in the middle of nowhere" and left school at 12.

From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2020

She was born Polissena Marguerita Nelli in January 1524, the second child of a draper called Piero and his wife Francesca, who lived in the San Felice area of Florence.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2019

The draper sat upon the cobbles of the street, his hair lank, and a daughter of perhaps my age wandered about through the wreckage, picking up silks and attempting to drag them back inside.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Then cinematographers Evan Draper and Jazleana Jones along with Ullom, who also edits, take a steadier hand with evocative montages that emphasize the passage of time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

For years, it was a post office box in Draper, Utah.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

In 2024, StubHub shuttered the customer-service campus it had opened to fanfare seven years earlier in Draper, Utah, cutting 297 jobs, according to a state layoff notice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

In the second set, the Montreal crowd whooped as Draper executed a powerful cross-court forehand on course to a dominant 6-2 set win.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Capt. Draper, he opined it was sure the sweetest Music he had heard.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson