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damask

UK/ˈdæm.əsk/US/ˈdæm.əsk/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,655 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: damasks

Damask is a rich patterned cloth woven in one colour. A damask tablecloth, damask curtains, woven damask.

The pattern is made by the weave rather than by dye, so it shifts as the light moves and reverses on the other side. The cloth is named for Damascus, and so is the damask rose and the damascened steel of blades.

The original uploader was Brian0918 at English Wikipedia. (Original text: The New York Public Library) · Public domain

Definitions of damask

  1. 1noundamaskA rich patterned cloth woven in one colour.C2

    “The dining table was covered with a white damask cloth for the wedding dinner.”

damask is a cloth.

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin damascus names the cloth after the city of Damascus, where it was first made.

  1. Medieval Latin

    damascus

  2. Middle English

    damaske

  3. English, today

    damask

From Middle English damaske, from Medieval Latin damascus, named after the city Damascus, where the fabric was originally made.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

damask in the wild

  • Over time, however, damask has become a broader term for woven fabrics with a reversible pattern, not just silks.

    Damask

  • Yarns now used to create damasks include silk, wool, linen, cotton, and synthetic fibers, but damask is best shown in cotton and linen.

    Damask

  • The word aya means twill, but the first English translation by Arthur Waley used the word damask, and this choice is almost invariably preserved by later western writers.

    Aya no Tsuzumi

  • According to Tyler, "damask is far more evocative - and suitably so - in english".

    Aya no Tsuzumi

  • Johanna Ulrica "Ulla" Stenberg was a Swedish damask maker.

    Ulla Stenberg

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.