drape
/dɹeɪp/
drape noun: a curtain; a drapery.
Noun
drape (plural drapes)
- A curtain; a drapery.
- The way in which fabric falls or hangs.
- The herringbone-twill sample is soft and smooth, with an easy drape that allows the fabric to move beautifully.2026, Samantha Haring, “A Pair of New Tencels for Effortless Weaving”, in Handwoven, volume XLVII, number 1, page 74
- A member of a youth subculture distinguished by its sharp dress, especially peg-leg pants (1950s: e.g. Baltimore, MD). Antonym: square.
- A dress made from an entire piece of cloth, without having pieces cut away as in a fitted garment.
Verb
drape (third-person singular simple present drapes, present participle draping, simple past and past participle draped)
- To cover or adorn with drapery or folds of cloth, or as with drapery.
- to drape a bust, a building, etc.
- The whole people were still draped professionally.1840, Thomas De Quincey, Theory of Greek Tragedy
- To spread over, cover.
- I draped my towel over the radiator to dry.
- I cycled the three miles each morning between hedges draped with spangled cobwebs and berried bryony.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 216
- To rail at; to banter.
- At my Arrival , the King asked me many questions about my Journey, about the Congress, draping us for spending him so money1672-679, William Temple, Memoirs
- To make cloth.
- To design drapery, arrange its folds, etc., as for hangings, costumes, statues, etc.
- To hang or rest limply.
- I draped myself elegantly over the couch.
- Synonyms:
- trail
drape meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
drape in Tamil
- துணி கொண்டு போர்த்து, மூடு, துவளும் தன்மை
drape in Urdu
- پردوں سے آراستہ کرنا
drape in Malayalam
- തുണികൊണ്ട് അയഞ്ഞമട്ടിൽ പൊതിയുക, ആടകൊണ്ട് അലങ്കരിക്കുക, വസ്ത്രം ധരിക്കുക
drape in Kannada
- ಹೊದಿಸು, ಇಳಿಬಿಡು, ತೂಗುಹಾಕು
Examples of drape in a sentence
- These starry blossoms, pure and white, / Soft falling, falling, through the night, / Have draped the woods and mere.a. 1892, George Washington Bungay, The Artists of the Air:
- The pair sat before a brilliant gold Buddha statue inside the ornate temple, built 150 years ago by the former Thai King – the supreme patriarch barefoot and draped in orange robes as they spoke.2019 November 21, “Pope Francis meets Thai Buddhist patriarch on visit promoting religious peace”, in The Straits Times, SPH Digital News...
Synonyms of drape
Forms of drape
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | drapes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | drapes |
| present participle | draping |
| past participle | draped |
| past | draped |
Origin of drape
From Middle English drape (“a drape”, noun), from Old French draper (“to drape; to full cloth”), from drap (“cloth, drabcloth”), from Late Latin drappus, drapus (“drabcloth, kerchief”), a word first recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne, probably from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”, literally “that which is struck or for striking”), from Proto-Germanic *drapiz (“a strike, hit, blow”) and Proto-Germanic *drēpiz (“intended for striking, to be beaten”), both from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to beat, crush, make or become thick”). Cognate with English drub (“to beat”), North Frisian dreep (“a blow”), Low German drapen, dräpen (“to strike”), German treffen (“to meet”), Swedish dräpa (“to slay”). More at drub.
Words formed from drape
Words that rhyme with drape
21 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about drape
- What does drape mean?
- Drape means a curtain; a drapery.
- What is drape in Tamil?
- Drape in Tamil is துணி கொண்டு போர்த்து, மூடு, துவளும் தன்மை. See Drape meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use drape in a sentence?
- These starry blossoms, pure and white, / Soft falling, falling, through the night, / Have draped the woods and mere.
- What part of speech is drape?
- Drape can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce drape?
- Drape is pronounced /dɹeɪp/.
- What is the plural of drape?
- The plural of drape is drapes.
Words near drape in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: drape (page history and authors); drape (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); drape (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); drape (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); drape (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-drape.wav.
Cite this entry: “drape.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drape. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
