WIMPLE

wimple

(noun) headdress of cloth; worn over the head and around the neck and ears by medieval women

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

wimple (plural wimples)

A cloth which usually covers the head and is worn around the neck and chin. It was worn by women in medieval Europe and is still worn by nuns in certain orders.

A fold or pleat in cloth.

A ripple, as on the surface of water.

A curve or bend.

A flag or streamer.

Etymology 2

Verb

wimple (third-person singular simple present wimples, present participle wimpling, simple past and past participle wimpled)

To cover with a wimple.

To draw down; to lower, like a veil.

To cause to appear as if laid in folds or plaits; to cause to ripple or undulate.

To flutter.

Source: Wiktionary


Wim"ple, n. Etym: [OE. wimpel, AS. winpel; akin to D. & G. wimpel a pennant, streamer, OHG. wimpal a veil, Icel. vimpill, Dan. & Sw. vimpel a pennant, streamer; of uncertain origin. Cf. Gimp.]

1. A covering of silk, linen, or other material, for the neck and chin, formerly worn by women as an outdoor protection, and still retained in the dress of nuns. Full seemly her wympel ipinched is. Chaucer. For she had laid her mournful stole aside, And widowlike sad wimple thrown away. Spenser. Then Vivian rose, And from her brown-locked head the wimple throws. M. Arnold.

2. A flag or streamer. Weale.

Wim"ple, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wimpled; p. pr. & vb. n. Wimpling.]

1. To clothe with a wimple; to cover, as with a veil; hence, to hoodwink. "She sat ywympled well." Chaucer. This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy. Shak.

2. To draw down, as a veil; to lay in folds or plaits, as a veil.

3. To cause to appear as if laid in folds or plaits; to cause to ripple or undulate; as, the wind wimples the surface of water.

Wim"ple, v. i.

Definition: To lie in folds; also, to appear as if laid in folds or plaits; to ripple; to undulate. "Wimpling waves." Longfellow. For with a veil, that wimpled everywhere, Her head and face was hid. Spenser. With me through . . . meadows stray, Where wimpling waters make their way. Ramsay.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 March 2025

THOUGHTLESS

(adjective) without care or thought for others; “the thoughtless saying of a great princess on being informed that the people had no bread; ‘Let them eat cake’”


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Coffee Trivia

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