hammercloth

American  

[ham-er-klawth, -kloth] / ˈhæm ərˌklɔθ, -ˌklɒθ /

noun

plural

hammercloths

1. a cloth covering for the driver's seat on a horse-drawn carriage.

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Etymology

Origin of hammercloth

1425–75; late Middle English hamerclothe, dissimilated variant of *hamelcloth home-woven cloth, equivalent to hamel domestic (akin to Old Norse heimili homestead) + cloth ( e ) cloth

Example Sentences

The noblest natures may be worked up to suspicion by designing villany; and then a handkerchief, or a hammercloth, 'trifles as light as air'—" "Oh, my dear, you are too good.

From Tales and Novels — Volume 03 by Edgeworth, Maria

Why, 'twas atop of that very blue hammercloth that I first set eyes on my Dove!

From Love and Life An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

First came the Topham Sawyers, in their light-blue carriage with the white hammercloth and blue and white ribbons—their footmen drove the house down with the knocking.

From A Little Dinner at Timmin's by Thackeray, William Makepeace

His getting on his box, which I remember to have been decorated with an old weather-stained pea-green hammercloth moth-eaten into rags, was quite a work of time.

From Great Expectations by Dickens, Charles

They have gone the way of their beautiful chariots with the elaborate armorial bearings and the tasselled hammercloth, the bewigged, cocked-hatted coachman, and the two gorgeous flunkies hanging on behind.

From Social Pictorial Satire by Du Maurier, George