Kerchief sb.

Forms: α. 3–4 curchef, (5 -cheff, -chyfe), 5–6 courchef(e, (6 -chief, corecheffe), 6 curtchif. β. 4–7 kerchef, (5 -cheff(e, pl. -cheves, 6 -chefe, -cheife), 4–6 kerchif, (5 -chife, 6–7 -chiffe, 8 -tchiff), 5– kerchief, (6 pl. -chievis); also 5 keercheef, kyrchef(fe, 6 kar-, car-, c(h)arschaffe. γ. 5 kerchew(e, 6 -cheu, -chow, -cho, -chu, kirchowe, -tshaw. δ. kerchy. See also KERCH, KERCHER. [ME. curchef and kerchef, syncopated forms of coverchef and keverchef, respectively a. OF. couvrechief and cuevrechief, in AF. also courchief: see COVERCHIEF, and, for the vowel difference, COVER v.¹ In northern ME. coverchef, curchef and CURCH were typical, while keverchef, kerchef, KERCHER and KERCH were (like kever) midland or southern. From kerchef came also the obs. local variants kirchef, karchef, while the pl. kerchevis app. gave rise to the forms ending in -ew, o(w, -u, etc. The form kerchy is still used in some dialects.]

  1.  A cloth used to cover the head, formerly a woman’s head-dress.

  α.  a. 1300.  Cursor M., 28018 (Cott.). Yee leuedis … wit curchefs crisp and bendes bright.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 5249. A croune & a corecheffe clustert with gemmes.

a. 1440.  Sir Degrev., 653. Hir courchefs were curious, Hir face gay and gracyous.

1535.  Will, in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees), 359. j curtchif.

1552.  Caius, Sweatyng Sicknes, 361. Chaucer’s couercephe … written and pronounced comonly. Kerchief in y^e south, & courchief in the north.

  β.  13[?].  Cursor M., 28018 (Cott. Galba). With kerchifes crisp and bilietes bright.

c. 1440.  York Myst., x. 288. Lay doune þis kyrcheffe on myn eghne.

1482.  Act 22 Edw. IV., c. 1. They shall not suffer their wives to weare any reile called a kercheffe, whose price exceedeth twentie pence.

1584.  Cogan, Haven Health, ccxli. (1636), 274. It is good also to weare a kerchiffe … in the night on our heads.

1632.  Deloney, Thomas of Reading, in Thoms, E. E. Prose Rom. (1858), I. 151. His Oastesse was very diligent to warme a kerchiffe and put it about his head.

1720.  Gay, Poems (1745), I. 109. Her goodly countenance … Set off with kerchief starchd and pinners clean.

1877.  Bryant, Lit. People of Snow, 99. A broad kerchief, which her Mother’s hand Had closely drawn about her ruddy cheek.

  γ.  c. 1440.  Generydes, 4424. Vppe he lift here kerchewe furth with all.

1482.  Croscombe Church-w. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.), 10. A ryng of sylver and a kerchew.

1505.  Rep. Ambass. touching the Queen of Naples. Clothed in black cloth, and, also in black kerchoes.

1535.  Coverdale, Ezek. xvi. 11. I clothed the with kerchues.

c. 1540.  in Laneham’s Let. (1871), p. cxxix. note. Reyment off kercheus one your hed.

  δ.  c. 1450.  Cov. Myst., xxxii. (Shaks. Soc.), 318. Sche [Veronyca] whypyth his face with her kerchy…. I xal them kepe from alle mysese, That lokyn on thi kerchy.

  † b.  = AMICE¹ 2. Obs. rare.

1552–3.  Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs., in Ann. Lichfield, IV. 80. One albe & karcheffe to the same … one vestement of whyte sateyn with albe & karcheffe to the same.

  † c.  A woman who wears a kerchief. nonce-use.

1700.  Dryden, Fables, Wife’s T., 245. The proudest kerchief of the court shall rest Well satisfied of what they love the best [cf. Chaucer, Wife’s T., 162].

  2.  A covering for the breast, neck or shoulders; a breast-kerchief or neckerchief.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 954. Kerchofes … wyth mony cler perlez Hir brest & hir bryȝt þrote bare displayed.

c. 1460.  Russell, Bk. Nurture, 900. On his shuldur about his nek a kercheff þere must lye.

1552.  Huldet, Kerchiefe for the brest, pectoralis fascia.

1807–8.  W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 9. [If] Mrs. Oldmixon pins her kerchief a hair’s-breadth awry.

1871.  B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. vii. 115. Get me a kerchief from her breast.

  3.  A handkerchief.

1815.  Southey, Roderick, XXII. 136. I ween That a thin kerchief will dry all the tears.

1821.  Byron, Two Foscari, I. i. 103. Waving kerchiefs, and applauding hands.

1847.  Whewell, trans. Hermann und Dorothea, in Eng. Hexam. Transl., 66. Each one wipes his brow with his kerchief.

  b.  A cloth resembling a kerchief or handkerchief.

1877.  J. D. Chambers, Divine Worship, 273. Besides these [chalice-veils] there ought to be two other white linen kerchiefs.

  4.  attrib. and Comb., as kerchief cloth, † launder, † people, -taking, -turban.

1483.  Churchw. Acc. St. Mary Hill Lond. (Nichols, 1797), 97. For buryinge the Kerchiefe Launder’s doghter.

1566.  Eng. Ch. Furniture (Peacock, 1866), 68. A kerchef clothe and a crosse clothe solde … by the said church wardens.

1636.  Davenant, Platonic Lovers, V. Dram. Wks. 1872, II. 88. Many of these tiffany Young kerchief people.

1833.  L. Ritchie, Wand. by Loire, 182. Some of the women wore a kerchief-turban of the gaudiest colours.

1843.  Marryat, M. Violet, xxvii. Kerchief-taking is a most common joke in Texas.