To clothe with a wimple; to cover, as with a
veil; hence, to hoodwink. "She sat ywympled well." --Chaucer. [1913
Webster] This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
To draw down, as a veil; to lay in folds or
plaits, as a veil. [1913 Webster]
To cause to appear as if laid in folds or plaits;
to cause to ripple or undulate; as, the wind wimples the surface of
water. [1913 Webster]
Wimple \Wim"ple\, n. [OE. wimpel, AS. winpel;
akin to D. & G. wimpel a pennant, streamer, OHG. wimpal a veil,
Icel. vimpill, Dan. & Sw. vimpel a pennant, streamer; of
uncertain origin. Cf. Gimp.] [1913 Webster]
A covering of silk, linen, or other material, for
the neck and chin, formerly worn by women as an outdoor protection,
and still retained in the dress of nuns. [1913 Webster] Full seemly
her wympel ipinched is. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] For she had laid
her mournful stole aside, And widowlike sad wimple thrown away.
--Spenser. [1913 Webster] Then Vivian rose, And from her
brown-locked head the wimple throws. --M. Arnold. [1913
Webster]
A flag or streamer. --Weale. [1913 Webster]
Wimple \Wim"ple\, v. i. To lie in folds; also, to
appear as if laid in folds or plaits; to ripple; to undulate.
"Wimpling waves." --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] For with a veil,
that wimpled everywhere, Her head and face was hid. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster] With me through . . . meadows stray, Where wimpling
waters make their way. --Ramsay. [1913 Webster]
Word Net
wimple n : headdress of cloth; worn over the head and around the neck and ears by medieval womenEnglish
Noun
The wimple is a garment of mediaeval Europe worn by
women. It is a cloth which
usually covers the head and
is worn around the neck and
chin. At many stages of
medieval culture it was unseemly for a married woman to show her
hair. A wimple might be elaborately starched, and creased and
folded in prescribed ways, even supported on wire or wicker framing
(cornette). Italian
women abandoned their headcloths in the 15th century, or replaced
them with transparent gauze, and showed their elaborate braids.
Both elaborate laundry and elaborate braiding demonstrated status,
in that such grooming was being performed by others. Geoffrey
Chaucer in his Canterbury
Tales has the Wife of
Bath and also the Prioress depicted
wearing them. Today the wimple is worn by some nuns who still don the traditional
habit.
The women who wore wimples were actually observing the following
passage in 1 Corinthians 11:5 in the New
Testament: "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with
her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one
as if she were shaven."
In Middle
English, the word was wymple, and anyone wearing one would be
Ywympled, rather than wimpled.
For pictures of the wimple, see:
- Gerard David, Adoration of the Magi - with Mary wearing a wimple
- Albrecht Dürer, Lamentation of Christ (detail) - women with wimples
- Roman Catholic Daughters of Charity sisters wearing starched wimples (cornette) (1950 photo)
- Roman Catholic Poor Clare Nuns wearing wimples (2006 photo)
References
wimple in Polish: Podwika