(In 7 crespe.) [An anglicized spelling of mod.F. crêpe, in 16th c. crespe (= tissu crespe), sb. use of crespe adj. CRISP, crisped, minutely curled or frizzled.]
1. A thin transparent gauze-like fabric, plain woven, without any twill, of highly twisted raw silk or other staple, and mechanically embossed, so as to have a crisped or minutely wrinkled surface. The name originally comprised fine worsted fabrics (see b.); but it is now chiefly limited to a black silk (or imitation silk) fabric much used for ladies’ mourning dresses, and for funereal trimming and draping.
Sometimes specifically called English crape (crêpe anglais). For similar fabrics of other colors or material the French form CRÊPE (which has retained the wider meaning of the word) is now used by preference, though the English form also occurs with qualifications, as in Canton or China crape = crêpe de Chine, † crape-lesse = Crêpe lisse, a kind of crape without any wrinkling or ‘figure’; see also crape-cloth below. The ‘crape’ for which Norwich was formerly famous, was a plain cloth of silk warp and worsted weft, which afterwards degenerated into bombazine: see the latter word (quots. 1789–1831).
1633. J. Done, Hist. Septuagint, 179. Tunicks of Crespe.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2001/5. 2 Pieces of Stript Silk Norwich Crape, and two Pieces of mixt Norwich Silk Crape not Stript.
1687. Settle, Refl. Dryden, 59. Not white crape or any other sort of white dress.
1702. Order in Council, 8 March, in Lond. Gaz., No. 3791/4. It will be allowed as full and proper Mourning, to wear Hatbands of Black English Alamode covered with Black Crape.
1721. Swift, Epil. to Play, Wks. 1755, III. II. 182. Proud Roxana, fir’d with jealous rage, With fifty yards of crape shall sweep the stage.
1727. [see CRAPED].
1820. Scott, Monast., xvii. He could discern the outline of the bush, as through a veil of fine crape.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v. Crape, Aerophanes, crape-lesse, and gauze are either white or coloured.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. iv. 82. That’s the kind of way widows talk in their first edition of crape and caps.
plural. 1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 76, ¶ 1. His Wenches are in plain Pinners and Norwich Crapes.
b. In the 18th c., ‘a sort of thin worsted stuff, of which the dress of the clergy is sometimes made’ (Bailey 1755); hence, sometimes put for those who are dressed in ‘crape,’ the clergy, a clergyman; see also crape-gown, -man, etc., in 3 b.
1682. [see crape-gown in 3 b].
1699. Garth, Dispens., I. (1730), 144. Avoid th’ Inclemencies of Morning Air, And leave to tatter’d Crape the Drudgery of Pray’r.
1733. Pope, Ep. Cobham, 136. A Saint in crape is twice a Saint in lawn, A Judge is just, a Chanc’llor juster still.
1754. G. Colman, in Connoisseur, No. 1, Jan. Those tattered crapes said to ply here for occasional burials or sermons.
1755. Johnson, Crape, a thin stuff, loosely woven, of which the dress of the clergy is sometimes made.
1798. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Tales of Hoy, Wks. 1812, IV. 387. A Curate in his tatter’d crape.
2. a. A band of crape worn round a hat, etc., in token of mourning. b. A piece of crape drawn over the face as a disguise.
1763. Brit. Mag., IV. 547/1. That hat … To set it off, a mourning crape must deck.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 802. Crape and cocked pistol, and the whistling ball Sent through the traveller’s temples.
1813. Examiner, 7 Feb., 84/2. He [a villain] then pulled down a crape over his face.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xli. A white hat with a crape round it.
3. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. (or adj.) Of crape; connected with crape.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 64, ¶ 2. His Crape Hatband.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xli. My father seized his hat … tore off the crape weepers and … threw them on the floor.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 255. To take up the crape trade in earnest.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. vii. 136. The folds of her white crape fichu.
b. Comb., as crape-dresser, -dyer, -scourer, -wreath; crape-like, -shrouded adjs.; crape-cloth, a woollen material to which a crape-like appearance is given, used for mourning; crape-faced a., having the face covered with a piece of crape for disguise; † crape-gown, a gown of crape, formerly worn by English clergymen (see 1 b); hence † crape-gownman, † crape-man, a clergyman; crape-myrtle, a Chinese shrub, Lagerstrœmia indica, with bright rose-colored petals of crumpled appearance, cultivated in greenhouses in England, and in gardens in Southern U.S.
1837. Whitlock, Bk. Trades (1842), 490. *Crape-dresser.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Crape and Feather Dresser, one who crimps and curls those articles, and re-stiffens crape with gum water. Ibid., *Crape-Dyer, a tradesman who redresses and improves black crape.
1815. Milman, Fazio (1821), 15. Robbers, black *crape-faced robbers.
1682. (title) Speculum *Crape-Gownorum: Or, an old Looking-Glass for the Young Academicks.
1706. Hearne, Collect. (1885), I. 309. A new Pudding-sleeve Crape Gown.
1682. ‘Philanax Misopappas,’ Tory Plot, 2nd Pt., 3. High-flown *Crape-Gown-men, that thunder briskly against the Dissenters.
1881. J. E. H. Thomson, Upland Tarn, 55. The dank and *crape-like moss.
1887. H. T. Wood, Illustr. Books, 51. A multitude of tiny crape-like markings or folds.
1826. Scott, Woodst., i. The lazy *crapemen of Oxford, bouncing priests, whose eyes were so closed up with fat.
1850. B. Taylor, Eldorado, I. i. 6. Orange trees, acacias, and the pink blossoms of the *crape myrtle.
1881. G. W. Cable, Mad. Delphine, ix. 48. This side doorway … was overarched … by a crape-myrtle.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6385/4. Andrew Gayney … *Crape-Scowerer.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. vii. 136. The heavy *crape-shrouded gown which marked the first period of her mourning.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxix. (1856), 240. Great clouds of dark vapor are seen to the southward to-day, the *crape-wreaths of our first imprisonment.
