orphrey
Americannoun
-
an ornamental band or border, especially on an ecclesiastical vestment.
-
gold embroidery.
-
rich embroidery of any sort.
-
a piece of richly embroidered material.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of orphrey
1300–50; Middle English orfreis (later construed as plural) < Old French < Medieval Latin aurifrisium, variant of aurifrigium, for Latin phrase aurum Phrygium gold embroidery, literally, Phrygian gold
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.
This sprang from the tailors' way of seaming together strips of fabric, which were then reinforced with a decorative vertical band called an orphrey.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Coire, in the Grisons, is a very beautiful chasuble, of which the orphrey is of the school of the elder Holbein or Lucas Cranach, applied and raised so as to form a high relief.
From Needlework As Art by Alford, Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess
In the orphrey are kings, queens, archbishops, and bishops.
From Needlework As Art by Alford, Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess
How they clothe their figures in every conceivable splendor of orphrey and ermine, in jewels and shining armor and rich stuff of silk and samite, in robe of scarlet or in yellow dalmatic!
From The Age of the Reformation by Smith, Preserved
The orphrey is divided into tabernacles containing an archbishop, two bishops, and three kings and queens.
From Needlework As Art by Alford, Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess
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.
