kerchief
Americannoun
-
a woman's square scarf worn as a covering for the head or sometimes the shoulders.
-
a handkerchief.
noun
Other Word Forms
- kerchiefed adjective
- kerchieft adjective
Etymology
Origin of kerchief
1250–1300; Middle English kerchef, syncopated variant of keverchef < Old French cuevrechef literally, (it) covers (the) head. See cover, chief
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.
An elderly woman in a kerchief, helped off the train, walked away in silence.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 20, 2022
He’s wearing a sequined jacket with sparkly pink flamingos on it, a white cowboy hat and a pink silk kerchief around his neck.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2022
After signing an autograph, she got up and walked past a sexagenarian using his blue mask as a pocket kerchief as he drank a spring break-sized Negroni Sbagliato cocktail.
From New York Times • Oct. 23, 2020
They ranged in age from elderly women to a pre-teen girl, who wore a green kerchief wrapped around her neck.
From Washington Times • Dec. 13, 2019
She kept her long grey hair in two braids like a little girl with a flowered kerchief tied over her head and under her round chin.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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.
