mitre
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
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Christianity the liturgical headdress of a bishop or abbot, in most western churches consisting of a tall pointed cleft cap with two bands hanging down at the back
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short for mitre joint
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a bevelled surface of a mitre joint
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(in sewing) a diagonal join where the hems along two sides meet at a corner of the fabric
verb
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to make a mitre joint between (two pieces of material, esp wood)
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to make a mitre in (a fabric)
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to confer a mitre upon
a mitred abbot
Etymology
Origin of mitre
C14: from Old French, from Latin mitra, from Greek mitra turban
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.
After the service, Francis's body — dressed in a red chasuble and a damask and golden papal mitre — will be transported to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome for burial.
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2025
But as is the way of such men, the more doubt he has about the popular kids, the more certainty he has in his suitability to assume the mantle and mitre of Il Papa.
From Salon • Nov. 22, 2024
The church replaced it after the American Revolution with what is called a bishop’s mitre, which represented the shift from the Church of England to the Episcopal Church.
From Washington Times • Mar. 28, 2019
Later, Pope Paul VI lowered the height of the traditional mitre cap, and discouraged prelates from wearing red shoes and silver buckles.
From Slate • May 3, 2018
She’d put out our best tumblers for drinks and folded up paper serviettes into them so that each one stood up over the glass rim like a mitre, our school emblem.
From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd
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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.