Word of the Day
: June 11, 2007wimple
playWhat It Means
1 : to cover with or as if with a wimple : veil
2 : to ripple
3 : to follow a winding course : meander
wimple in Context
In Herman Melville's Benito Cereno, the author describes the sun as being "wimpled by . . . low, creeping clouds."
Did You Know?
"Wimple" is the name of the covering worn over the head and around the neck and chin by women in the late medieval period, as well as by some modern nuns. Its name is akin to Old Saxon "wimpal" and Middle Dutch "wimpel," both of which mean "veil" or "banner." Like the word "veil," "wimple" is also used as a verb meaning "cover" and was adopted by literary writers as a substitute for "ripple" and "meander," especially when writing about streams. "Over the little brook which wimpled along below towered an arch," James Russell Lowell once observed.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
