cloth

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes, woven fabric specifically.

   “Near-synonyms: (not always differentiated) fabric, material (fabric sense), textile; see also Thesaurus:fabric”

   “In trumpets for assisting the hearing, all reverbation of the trumpet must be avoided. It must be made thick, of the least elastic materials, and covered with cloth externally.”

   ““It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth.[…]””

   “There were other types of looms for producing various specialised types of cloth, for example fustians and velvets, but there is not space here to discuss these.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Specifically, a tablecloth, especially as spread before a meal or removed afterwards.

   “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.

   “The first room the people enter was formerly the Presence Chamber, which is hung completely with black, and at the r-end a cloth of estate, with a chair of estate standing upon the Haut-place under the state.”

   “The stole is a long scarf-like cloth that hangs around the neck, over the shoulders and down the front of bishops and priests [generally, two-four inches across].”

   “Wipe the surface with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits in order to remove the sanding dust, then brush on a full coat of varnish.”

4. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Substance or essence; the whole of something complex.

   “. If we look beyond the chaos of each moment, we cannot help seeing that we are but one glorious thread in the cloth of life.”

   “The disparate threads contained are, in the cloth of a religious society, ready to revolutionize the world and bring the Kingdom of Heaven into its full reality on earth.”

   “. The rhythm of life in rural Asia has followed an unchanging pattern from generation to generation and for the chronically poor it is soaked in the cloth of continued deprivation.”

   “A wrinkle in the cloth of time, a cry of soft caress and fragrant dreams to weld the metal fabric souls in blends so held in high regards across the lands and sky.”

5. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Appearance; seeming.

   “Unbelievably, he smiled through his cracked and bleeding lips. A horrible nightmare cloaked in the cloth of good.”

   “Not until rehabilitation was wrapped in the cloth of wartime patriotism—a program billed as necessary for the welfare of disabled soldiers—did it receive overwhelming congressional support.”

   “After being at your beck and call all these years, he wants a woman, not the consummate teen-ager pretending she's a grownup wrapping her flesh in the cloth of her church.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A form of attire that represents a particular profession or status.

   “But he could not come in the white cloth of celebration to a burial service, and he could hardly come in the cloth of mourning to celebrate his two decades on the stool.”

   “Wearing the cloth of kings would seem to be an appropriate symbol.”

   “Occasionally the most fortunate found a jewel, a golden-encrusted dagger, a ring, or some other precious gem which decorated the cloths of glory the Persian chieftains and satraps wore.”

   “The Old Testament Ministers of God, Aaron and his sons, who were the priests, wore special 'cloths of service.' They were dressed in 'holy garments' so that they could stand and offer in the Presence of God, being beautified by them and being enabled through them to perform their sacred duties.”

7. (countable, idiomatic, uncountable, with-definite-article)The priesthood.

   “He is a respected man of the cloth.”

   “As someone who finds clear shouts of lively encouragement easier to identify than the “still small voice of calm”, like the prairie rodent I scurried off to various members of the cloth to ask how they ascertained their calling.”