Dictionary

waistcloth en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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Etymology

From waist + cloth.

Meanings

1. A cloth or garment worn around the waist.
   • Fresh leaves had been stripped from a bush and a tiny fragment or two indicated that the Ojibway had torn a piece from his deerskin waistcloth to fasten over the leaves. 1916, Joseph Altsheler, The Hunters of the Hills:
   • A few mats, baskets, and cooking vessels, with plates and basins purchased from the Macassar traders, constitute their whole furniture; spears and bows are their weapons; a sarong or mat forms the clothing of the women, a waist-cloth of the men. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 231:
   • He was dressed in all the dignity of a woollen shirt, with a piece of fine "tapa" for a waistcloth, feet and legs bare. 1897, Frank T. Bullen, The Cruise of the Cachalot:
   • Two rows of slate beds, three of which only were occupied; two men and a boy, nude save a waistcloth; over their heads--sluggishly swayed by the air the new-comer had carelessly admitted--their clothes were hung like shapeless shadows. 1791, Alexandre (fils) Dumas, The Son of Clemenceau:
2. (historical) A covering of canvas or tarpaulin for the hammocks, stowed on the nettings, between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.

Forms