barmcloth

barmcloth

English

Etymology

From Old English bearmclāþ (“apron”), analysable as barm +‎ cloth.

Noun

barmcloth (plural barmcloths)

1. (obsolete) An apron.
   • 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. The Miller's Tale: 126-8.

     A ceynt she werede, barred al of silk,

     A barmcloth as whit as morne milk

     Upon her lendes, ful of many a goore.

   • 1870, William Morris, “September: The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part III, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], OCLC 51004898, page 80:

     His mother o'er her barm-cloth wide / Gazed forward somewhat timidly / The new-comer's bright weed to see.

Further reading

• barmcloth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• clambroth