drapery

[ drey-puh-ree ]

noun

, plural drap·er·ies.

1. coverings, hangings, clothing, etc., of fabric, especially as arranged in loose, graceful folds.
2. Often draperies. long curtains, usually of heavy fabric and often designed to open and close across a window.
3. the draping or arranging of hangings, clothing, etc., in graceful folds.
4. Art. hangings, clothing, etc., as represented in sculpture or painting.
5. cloths or textile fabrics collectively.
6. British.
   1. dry goods.
   2. the stock, shop, or business of a draper.

drapery

/ ˈdreɪpərɪ /

noun

1. fabric or clothing arranged and draped
2. often plural curtains or hangings that drape
3. the occupation or shop of a draper
4. fabrics and cloth collectively

Derived Forms

• ˈdraperied, adjective

Other Words From

• drap·er·ied adjective
• un·dra·per·ied adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of drapery¹

1250–1300; Middle English draperie < Old French, equivalent to drap cloth + -erie -ery

Example Sentences

Ronald Allen Kaye was born May 7, 1941, in Chicago to Rose Lasky and Al Kaye, a homemaker and a drapery salesman, who had emigrated from Russia and entered the country as Abraham Krakovsky, according to the family.

From Los Angeles Times

Both shows are deeply personal for the "Semi-Homemade" icon, a woman who spent her childhood stretching pennies and much of her 20s traveling to state fairs and home shows as she built her first business, a drapery kits venture she called Kurtain Kraft.

From Salon

After dropping out of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, she moved to Malibu and started a company called Kurtain Kraft, which created a product that used wire hangers and fabric to create window drapery.

From Los Angeles Times

Revealing labels are sometimes nicely tucked away, as in one on the far side of “The Age of Maturity” informing that the baroque flourish of drapery billowing at the apex is actually a precise facsimile, the original bronze piece currently undergoing conservation back in Paris.

From Los Angeles Times

In one Center City apartment Gray’s company worked on, drapery panels took the focus away from unattractive radiators.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• decoration
• drape
• screen
• shade
• shroud
• shutter
• veil