different between cloth vs neckcloth

English

Alternative forms

• cloath (obsolete)
• clath, clathe, claith (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English cloth, clath, from Old English cl?þ (“cloth, clothes, covering, sail”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþ? (“garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleyt- (“to cling to, cleave, stick”). Cognate with Scots clath (“cloth”), North Frisian klaid (“dress, garment”), Saterland Frisian Klood (“dress, apparel”), West Frisian kleed (“cloth, article of clothing”), Dutch kleed (“robe, dress”), Low German kleed (“dress, garment”), German Kleid (“gown, dress”), Danish klæde (“cloth, dress”), Norwegian klede, Swedish kläde (“cloth”), Icelandic klæði (“cloth, dressing”), Old English cl?þan (“to adhere, stick”). Compare Albanian ngjit (“to stick, attach, glue”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kl?th, IPA^(key): /kl??/
• (Conservative RP) enPR: klôth, IPA^(key): /kl???/
• (General American) enPR: klôth, IPA^(key): /kl??/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: kl?th, IPA^(key): /kl??/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /klo??/, enPR: kl?th
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

cloth (countable and uncountable, plural cloths)

1. (countable, uncountable) A woven fabric such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use.
2. Specifically, a tablecloth, especially as spread before a meal or removed afterwards.
   • 1796–7, Mary Wollstonecraft, The Wrongs of Woman, Oxford 2009, p. 142:

     One day he came, as I thought accidentally, to dinner. My husband was very much engaged in business, and quitted the room soon after the cloth was removed.

3. (countable) A piece of cloth used for a particular purpose.
4. (metaphoric) Substance or essence; the whole of something complex.
5. (metaphoric) Appearance; seeming.
6. A form of attire that represents a particular profession or status.
7. (in idioms) Priesthood, clergy.

Synonyms

• (woven fabric): material, stuff
• See also Thesaurus:fabric

Derived terms

Related terms

• clothe, clothes, clothing

Translations

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish cloth, from Proto-Celtic *klutom (compare Welsh clod), nominalization of Proto-Indo-European *?lutós (“famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *?lew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ?????? (klutós, “famous”), Sanskrit ????? (?ruta, “famous”), and English loud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl??(h)/

Noun

cloth m (genitive singular cloith, nominative plural cloith) (literary)

1. fame, honor
2. reputation

Declension

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “cloth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• “clo?” in Foclóir Gae?ilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 2nd ed., 1927, by Patrick S. Dinneen.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• clothe, clooth, clath, clathe, cloþ, cloþe, clooþ, claþ, claþe, cloð, clað, kloth, klathe, clot?, cloyth, kloyt

Etymology

From Old English cl?þ, from Proto-Germanic *klaiþ?.

Pronunciation

• (Early ME, Northern ME) IPA^(key): /kl???/
• IPA^(key): /kl???/

Noun

cloth (plural clothes or close)

2. Cloth; fabric or an individual piece of it, especially made by weaving:
   1. Table linen; a decorative cloth for the table.
   2. A blanket or sheet; bed linen.
   3. An ornamental cloth or carpet with fine detailing.
   4. A specific standard length or area of cloth.
   5. A cloth used to filter or sieve unwanted materials (usually in the kitchen).
   1. The cloth babies are wrapped in; babywear.
3. (often in the plural) An item of clothes; a garment; something to be worn.
4. Clothes, apparel; what is worn.
5. (Late Middle English) A bodily tissue or layer.
6. (Late Middle English, rare) An illness or medical condition evident from boils.

Derived terms

• bordcloth
• clothen
• clother
• clothing
• clothles

Descendants

• English: cloth
• Scots: clath, clathe, claith

References

• “cl?th, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-26.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *klutom (compare Welsh clod), nominalization of Proto-Indo-European *?lutós (“famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *?lew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ?????? (klutós, “famous”), Sanskrit ????? (?ruta, “famous”), and English loud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klo?/

Noun

cloth n (genitive cluith, nominative plural clotha)

1. fame, honor
2. reputation

Declension

Descendants

• Irish: cloth

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “cloth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

English

Alternative forms

• neck-cloth

Etymology

neck +? cloth

Noun

neckcloth (plural neckcloths)

1. (historical) An ornamental cravat, usually white.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, 3rd edition, p. 144,^[1]

     […] I did remember I had among the Seamens Cloaths which were sav’d out of the Ship, some Neckcloaths of Callicoe or Muslin; and with some Pieces of these I made three small Sieves, but proper enough for the Work […]

   • 1720, John Gay, “Tuesday; or, the Ditty” in Poems on Several Occasions, London: H. Lintot, R. Tonson & S. Draper, 1745, Volume I, p. 85,^[2]

     Will she thy linen wash or hosen darn,

     And knit thee gloves made of her own-spun yarn?

     Will she with huswife’s hand provide thy meat,

     And ev’ry Sunday morn thy neckcloth plait?

     Which o’er thy kersey doublet spreading wide,

     In service time drew Cic’ly’s eyes aside.

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Volume I, Chapter 9, p. 115,^[3]

     He was a man of such rigid refinement, that he would have starved rather than have dined without a white neck-cloth.

   • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, Chapter 15, p. 157,^[4]

     He was very cleanly dressed, in a blue coat, striped waistcoat, and nankeen trowsers; and his fine frilled shirt and cambric neckcloth looked unusually soft and white, reminding my strolling fancy (I call to mind) of the plumage on the breast of a swan.

   • 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, Part I, Chapter 7,^[5]

     It was not until Lestrade succeeded in getting his hand inside his neck-cloth and half-strangling him that we made him realise that his struggles were of no avail; and even then we felt no security until we had pinioned his feet as well as his hands.