cerecloth

[ seer-klawth, -kloth ]

noun

, plural cere·cloths [seer, -klaw, th, z, -klo, th, z, -klawths, -kloths].

1. cloth coated or impregnated with wax so as to be waterproof, formerly used for wrapping the dead, for bandages, etc.
2. a piece of such cloth.

cerecloth

/ ˈsɪəˌklɒθ /

noun

1. waxed waterproof cloth of a kind formerly used as a shroud

Word History and Origins

Origin of cerecloth¹

1400–50; late Middle English; earlier cered cloth; cere ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of cerecloth¹

C15: from earlier cered cloth, from Latin cērāre to wax; see cere ²

Example Sentences

The skeleton was found still wrapped in a cerecloth, and in the record of the church is a memorandum of payment "for a terpauling to wrap Mr. Mitchell."

From Project Gutenberg

Madam Gillin answered it in person, bedizened in a weird wrapper, a wisp of soiled crape wound over the curl-papers about her head and under her chin like a cerecloth.

From Project Gutenberg

I shut the drawer again hurriedly, and that doll in its silver paper cerecloth haunted me all night.

From Project Gutenberg

The curse of witchcraft was upon the house, hatred and death clung around it like cerecloths to a coffin.

From Project Gutenberg

A year again, and on Inchkeith Isle I saw thee pass in the breeze, With the cerecloth risen above thy feet And wound about thy knees.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cloak
• pall
• veil