tapestry en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈtæpəstɹi/
- tă'pəstrē
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English tapestrie, from Old French tapisserie (“tapestry”), from Ancient Greek τάπης (tápēs), from an Iranian source.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A heavy woven cloth, often with decorative pictorial designs, normally hung on walls.
Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
-
(broadly, countable, uncountable) Anything with variegated or complex details.
European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.
2013 January-February, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2013, page 59:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tapestries | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
be part of life's rich tapestry · tapestrylike · tapester · tapestry beetle · tapestry moth
Relateds
Translations (48)
yi וואַנטגעוועב (heavy woven cloth) · cmn 織錦 /织锦 (anything with variegated or complex details) · fr tapisserie (heavy woven cloth) · de Bildteppich (heavy woven cloth) · cmn 織錦 /织锦 (heavy woven cloth) · it tappezzeria (heavy woven cloth) · cmn 馬賽克 /马赛克 (anything with variegated or complex details) · nl wandtapijt (heavy woven cloth) · tr duvar halısı (heavy woven cloth) · es tapiz (anything with variegated or complex details) · sv gobeläng (heavy woven cloth) · bg гоблен (heavy woven cloth) · ru шпалера (heavy woven cloth) · es tapiz (heavy woven cloth) · de Tapisserie (heavy woven cloth) · de Wandteppich (heavy woven cloth) · ru гобеле́н (heavy woven cloth) · de Gobelin (heavy woven cloth) · enm tapestrie (heavy woven cloth) · gl tapiz (heavy woven cloth) · cmn 畫卷 /画卷 (anything with variegated or complex details) · da gobelin (heavy woven cloth) · fi labyrintti (anything with variegated or complex details) · cmn 壁毯 (heavy woven cloth) · uk вереня (heavy woven cloth) · sh таписѐрија (heavy woven cloth) · fr mosaïque (anything with variegated or complex details) · cmn 掛毯 /挂毯 (heavy woven cloth) · it arazzo (heavy woven cloth) · nl gobelin (heavy woven cloth) · fi kudos (anything with variegated or complex details) · eo tapeto (heavy woven cloth) · ota زار (heavy woven cloth) · cs tapiserie (heavy woven cloth) · mi tui raumata (heavy woven cloth) · tr duvar kilimi (heavy woven cloth) · yi באַשלאָג (heavy woven cloth) · yi גאָבעלען (heavy woven cloth) · sh tapisèrija (heavy woven cloth) · eo gobelino (heavy woven cloth) · pl tapiseria (heavy woven cloth) · fi seinävaate (heavy woven cloth) · de Bildwirkerei (heavy woven cloth) · ja タペストリー (heavy woven cloth) · ro tapiserie (heavy woven cloth) · ca tapís (heavy woven cloth) · enm tapiserie (heavy woven cloth) · pt tapeçaria (heavy woven cloth)