cloth
Pluralcloths
- 1Fabric made of woven, knitted, or felted fibers, used for clothing, decoration, cleaning, or other practical purposes.
The tailor ordered several yards of fine cloth for the suits.
Workers stretched the cloth across the wooden frame to dry.
UsageFor the material say cloth or a piece of cloth. Do not confuse cloths (pieces of fabric) with clothes (what you wear).
- 2A piece of fabric set aside for a particular use, such as cleaning, drying, or polishing.
He dampened a cloth and dabbed at the stain on the carpet.
The mechanic wiped his hands on an oily cloth.
UsageOften with a describing word: a damp cloth, a clean cloth, a soft cloth.
Note
The purpose can be humble, like a cloth dampened with mineral spirits before varnishing. It can also be ceremonial: a cloth of estate hung in a presence chamber with a chair of estate beneath it, or the long cloth of a priest's stole.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- A cloth dampened with mineral spirits can be used in preparation for varnishing. rustoleum.com
- A cloth of estate was a ceremonial textile furnishing hung in a presence chamber. hrp.org.uk
- A chair of estate could stand beneath a cloth of estate. virtualtours-assets.parliament.uk
- A priest's stole can consist of a long strip of cloth. en.wikipedia.org
- 3A tablecloth, especially one spread over a table before a meal and removed afterward.
The waiter smoothed the white cloth before laying out the silverware.
Servants cleared the cloth once the guests had finished dining.
Similartablecloth
Note
Here the cloth is the one on the dinner table, and its removal marks a moment in the meal. When Mary Wollstonecraft writes in Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798) that a husband "quitted the room soon after the cloth was removed," the phrase simply means once the main part of dinner was over. In older fiction, read the spreading and removing of the cloth as the meal's beginning and the end of its main courses, often before dessert and wine.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Cloth here means the tablecloth. en.wiktionary.org
- Mary Wollstonecraft wrote Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman. gutenberg.org
- The work was first published in 1798. openlibrary.org
- The quoted wording describes a husband leaving the room. dev.gutenberg.org
- Removing the cloth marks the clearing of dinner, but could precede dessert; it does not necessarily signal the end of all eating. gutenberg.org
Less common meanings
- 4The clergy collectively; the profession of ordained religious ministers.
After much reflection, he decided to take the cloth.
Three generations of her family had produced a man or woman of the cloth.
UsageMostly in a man (or woman) of the cloth; take the cloth means join the clergy.
Similarministry, priesthood, clergy
Oppositelaity
Note
The word stands by metonymy for the clerical calling, reached through the distinctive dress of attire marking a profession.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The clerical-profession meaning derives from distinctive professional dress. gutenberg.org
- 5The basic nature or character of someone or something, as in the phrase 'cut from the same cloth', meaning very alike.
The senators were all cut from the same cloth, sharing the same ambitions.
The new principal is cut from the same cloth as the old one, strict but fair.
UsageUsually in cut from the same cloth or cut from a different cloth.
Note
A weaver's figure applied to whole lives and societies: the complex thing is pictured as woven fabric, and its parts as threads. It usually takes the frame the cloth of something (the cloth of life, of time, of a religious society) and pulls thread, woven and wrinkle in with it, as when Sang H. Kim calls us "one glorious thread in the cloth of life". The image works best kept consistent, since it borrows everything from the literal fabric.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Sang H. Kim uses the quoted words to describe our place in life. en.wiktionary.org
- Open Library records The Art of Harmony as first published in 1994. The cited 2001 volume is a later edition; remove the date unless the quotation can be checked in the first edition. openlibrary.org
- 6The outward appearance or semblance of something, as distinct from its reality.
The surveillance program was dressed in the cloth of public safety, though few believed that was its real purpose.
Voters soon saw that the young reformer was an old insider in new cloth.
UsageOften in dressed, wrapped or cloaked in the cloth of something.
Similarguise, veneer, facade, front, pretense
Note
Here the fabric is a covering, and the verbs give it away. Things are wrapped or cloaked in the cloth of something: wartime patriotism, good, a church. The image is of disguise or packaging, so the phrase usually hints that the wrapping differs from what lies beneath. Kathy Steffen's "horrible nightmare cloaked in the cloth of good" shows the effect at its sharpest.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Kathy Steffen wrote the quoted phrase. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A style of dress that marks out a particular profession or social rank.
Wearing the cloth of kings would seem to be an appropriate symbol.
2004, Alison Dundes Renteln, The Cultural Defense
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of cloth apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Old English clāþ ("cloth, clothes, covering, sail") came from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą ("garment"), perhaps ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cling to, stick," and became Middle English cloth. German Kleid ("dress"), Dutch kleed ("robe") and Swedish kläde ("cloth") are relatives.