cloak

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cloke,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French cloke, cloque, an Old North French variant of cloche (“bell; cloak”),^{[6][7][8][9][10]} from Medieval Latin clocca (“bell; travellers' cape”),^[6][7][3][4] so called from its bell-like shape.^[6][7][3][8] The word is thus a doublet of clock.^[6][7][5] Hoad notes that the Medieval Latin word is recorded from the 7th century and is perhaps of Irish origin.^[10] The verb is formed from the noun.^[6][7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A loose outer garment worn over other clothes: 1293, as cloke in an English word inside a Latin law record,^[2][11] and about 1300 in Laȝamon's “Brut”.^[6][2] Etymonline glosses the early word as a long, loose outer garment without sleeves.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the cloak was everyday wear for both men and women in England through the 16th century, as protection from the weather, and that a high-collared circular form, often called a Spanish cloak, came back into fashion around 1800–1840.^[7] The figurative sense, that which covers or conceals, a pretext, is recorded from 1526,^[6][7] and the verb, to cover over or conceal, from 1509;^[6][11][4] the literal verb, to wrap in a cloak, is recorded from about 1521.^[6] In the 17th century the word was used for an academic or clerical gown, and contemptuously for a Presbyterian or Independent minister.^[6] In zoology it has been used since 1842 for the mantle of molluscs.^[6] Cloak-and-dagger, of intrigue and espionage, is recorded from 1848 and is said to translate French de cape et d'épée.^[7][12] In underworld slang a cloak was a watch-case, from 1718.^[13]

Timeline

• 1293 – a loose outer garment.^[2][11]
• 1509 – verb, to cover over, conceal.^[6][11][4]
• c. 1521 – verb, to wrap in a cloak.^[6]
• 1526 – figurative, a pretext or outward show.^[6]
• 1641 – an academic or clerical gown (obsolete by 1727).^[6]
• 1718 – underworld slang, a watch-case.^[13]
• 1842 – the mantle of a mollusc.^[6]
• 1848 – cloak-and-dagger.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loose outer garment, usually sleeveless, fastened at the neck and hanging from the shoulders; a cape.^[14][4][8]
2. Something that covers or hides; a disguise or pretext: under a cloak of secrecy.^[14][4][6]
3. (zoology) The mantle of a mollusc.^[6][4]

Verb

1. To cover with a cloak, or as if with one: Fog cloaked the harbour by evening.^[14][4][6]
2. To hide or mask: He cloaked his fear with jokes.^[14][4][6]

Word family

• cloakless
• cloakroom
• uncloak
• undercloak
• cloak-and-dagger
• mourning cloak
• cloak fern

Related words

• clock
• cloche

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins