tapestry

[tap-uh-stree]

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noun, plural tap·es·tries.

a fabric consisting of a warp upon which colored threads are woven by hand to produce a design, often pictorial, used for wall hangings, furniture coverings, etc.

a machine-woven reproduction of this.

verb (used with object), tap·es·tried, tap·es·try·ing.

to furnish, cover, or adorn with tapestry.

to represent or depict in a tapestry.

Origin of tapestry

1400–50; late Middle English tapst(e)ry, tapistry < Middle French tapisserie carpeting. See tapis, -ery

Related formstap·es·try·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tapestry

drapery, hanging, arras, dosser

Examples from the Web for tapestry

Contemporary Examples of tapestry

I am thrilled because the subject matter is rich, but I like that it is a tapestry of color, which is very much needed.
Octavia Spencer on Hollywood and Race: The Film Roles I’m Offered Are Too Small
Marlow Stern
July 31, 2014
It looks as if it has been made from a Medieval tapestry, the colors rich and worn-looking.
Here Comes the Bride…In Flaming Red: Two Centuries of Colorful Wedding Dresses
Liza Foreman
May 7, 2014
In a lovely circular twist, the tapestry's true subject turns out to be the luxe of which it's an example.
Unicorn, the Luxury Meat
Blake Gopnik
July 16, 2013
A tapestry like this was the ultimate luxury good and status symbol, worth so much more than a measly painting.
Unicorn, the Luxury Meat
Blake Gopnik
July 16, 2013
This tapestry was woven in Flanders in about 1500 for a noble French client.
Unicorn, the Luxury Meat
Blake Gopnik
July 16, 2013

Historical Examples of tapestry

On the walls were hung some pieces of tapestry, where there were not bookcases.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
The posters, maculated with filth, garnished like tapestry the sweep of the curbstone.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
There had been just room, and no more, for Clara to stand between the tapestry and the books.
Wilfrid Cumbermede
George MacDonald
In a costume other than evening clothes, he might have walked out of a tapestry.
The Paliser case
Edgar Saltus
After a drawing, now in the Louvre, for Raphaels tapestry cartoons.
John Baptist Jackson
Jacob Kainen

British Dictionary definitions for tapestry

tapestry

noun plural -tries

a heavy ornamental fabric, often in the form of a picture, used for wall hangings, furnishings, etc, and made by weaving coloured threads into a fixed warp

another word for needlepoint

a colourful and complicated situationthe rich tapestry of London life

Derived Formstapestried, adjectivetapestry-like, adjective

Word Origin for tapestry

C15: from Old French tapisserie carpeting, from Old French tapiz carpet; see tapis

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tapestry

mid-15c., variant of tapissery (early 15c.), from Middle French tapisserie "tapestry" (14c.), from tapisser "to cover with heavy fabric," from tapis "heavy fabric," from Old French tapiz (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *tappetium, from Byzantine Greek tapetion, from classical Greek, diminutive of tapes (genitive tapetos) "tapestry, heavy fabric," probably from an Iranian source (cf. Persian taftan, tabidan "to turn, twist"). The figurative use is first recorded 1580s.