I. ˈdrāp(ə)rē, -ri noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English draperie (also, manufacture of cloth, dealing in cloth), from Middle French, from Old French, from drap cloth + -erie -ery — more at drab (cloth)
1. Britain : dry goods
2. Britain : the occupation of a draper
3. : a piece of material (as cloth, lace, or plastic) used for decorative purposes and usually hung in loose folds arranged in a graceful design: as
a. : clothing or a piece of cloth arranged in graceful folds and worn or represented in art as worn on the human body
b. : curtain 1a ; especially : a curtain of heavy fabric often used over sheer curtains
c. : loose coverings for furniture ; also : an arrangement of cloth for use in interior decoration especially as a wall covering : hangings
4. : something that serves to cover, adorn, or conceal
facts buried under the draperies of his turgid prose
5. : the draping or arranging of materials or their representation
great skill in drapery
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: to furnish or adorn with or as if with drapery — used chiefly as a past participle
she was draperied in soft flowing velvet