coverchief
, cover + chief.
Searchable Lemmata: coverchef (AF), coverchevium (L), cover-chef (ME), coverchef (OScots), coverchief (MdE), kerchief (MdE).
Alternate Forms: car-chef, ceuvrechef, cheverchief, chevrechief, chorechef, choverchef, coerchivium, cor-chef, corchif, corechef, cour-chef, cover-chaf, covercheffes, coverchep, covercheves, coverchief, cover-chief, coverchiefs, cover-chof, coverchuf, coverechef, covershives, covrechief, crevechez, cuerchief, cur-chef, cuverchef, cuverchet, cuverchetis, cuverchief, cuverchif, cuverchit, cuvrechef, cuvrechiep, cuvrechis, kar-chef, ker-chef, keuchiefs, kevercheef, keverchef, kever-chef, keverchief, keverchif, keverechef, keverechisy, kevrechef, kevrechisy, kir-chef, kuverché.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
NOTE(n.) ;
as some of the manuscript evidence makes clear, coverchief (Old French cuevre-chief) or kerchief could refer either to an object or to a material, in both French and English accounts.
S. M. Newton reports that National Archives MS (formerly PRO) E101/394/9 [1361-2] lists five varieties of the 'stuff' implied (including 'crispes, cambrey, relusant, cipré, boillez'), and that each was issued by the piece [Newton, S. M. (1980), 134].
Sex: N/A Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
1a(n.)
Accessory;
veil; a piece of cloth used to cover the head or head, neck and shoulders; specifically a woman's head covering. Also (in the plural), headdressing, head-covering.(ante 1225 still in current use)
3. [340] ... Sche tar ... here cloþ, Here kirtel, here pilche [vr. furre] of ermine, Here keuerchefs of silk, here smok o line ... Sche to rent bineþen here brest.
Heroic, Historic, Poetic.
[MED 7 Sages(1) ((Auch) 17/340-341) circa 1330]
Sex: Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Head, Neck, Shoulder(s).
1b(n.)
Accessory;
kerchief; piece of cloth worn for various purposes (a neckcloth or neckerchief, a shoulder cloth, a cloth to cover the visor of a basinet, a handkerchief, etc.); cloth covering the face (face cloth; facitergia), used during the performance of mass (may be some overlap with other senses).(ante 1300 still in current use)
2. mappa : napis / mantilia : tualis, napis / gausape : un nap / manutergia : tualis / facitergia : keverchis.
[AND TLL (2,60,13-14)]
3. The Kyng that same tyme ther stondying in his nyght gowne, all unclothid save his shirt, his cape, his combe, his coverchif, his furrid pynsons ... upon the forme and the foote sheet.
Biblical/Hagiographic, Historic.
[MED Shirley Death Jas. ((Add 5467) 15) ante 1475]
4. To arme a man. ffirste ye muste sette on Sabatones and tye hem up on the shoo with smale poyntis ... And then griffus & then quisses ... And þen rerebras, And then glovys [vr. cloovis]
He schal have ... a payr' hosyn of stamyn sengill and a peyre of shorte bulwerkis of thynne blanket to put aboute his kneys for chawfynge of his lighernes. ... A longe swerde ... Also a kerchif to hele the viser of his basinet ... His basinet pynnid up on two greet staplis before the breste, with a dowbill bokill behynde up on the bak for to make the basinet sitte juste ... Thre coordis muste be faste sowid un to the hele of the shoo and fyne [read: fyue] cordis in the mydill of the soole ... and that ther be betwene the frettis of the heele and the frettis of the myddill of the shoo the space of thre fyngris.
Legal.
[MED Arms Chivalry (Mrg M 775) (43-44) ante 1486]
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
1c(n.)
Furnishing;
cloth for miscellaneous furnishings: wrapping or binding; coverlet or similar bed covering; cover for the sacrament or church vessels; etc.(ante 1250 - 1491)
2. quemdam lectum pulcrum ... , viz. ... culcitram ... , coopertorium ... et duo auricularia serica cum pulchro keverchivo
Accounts.
[DMLBS Cl (247) 1249]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
1d(n.)
Textile;
piece of cloth used for various purposes (to make garments or furnishing as described in the other senses).(ante 1340 - 1423)
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, From Old French cuevre-chief, head covering. In British Latin from c1250, from Anglo-French. The variants curchef, kerchef (kerchief) represent syncopated forms, and in northern ME dialects, coverchef, curchef and curch were typical (c-), while keverchef, kerchef, kercher, and kerch were more common in the Midlands and South.
WF: Compound
Etym Cog: coverchef, kerche, kercher, coverchief, kerchief, handkerchief.
References:
