Library / English Dictionary

CLOAK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A loose outer garment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cloak" is a kind of...):

outer garment; overgarment (a garment worn over other garments)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cloak"):

burnoose; burnous; burnouse (a long hooded cloak woven of wool in one piece; worn by Arabs and Moors)

caftan; kaftan (a (cotton or silk) cloak with full sleeves and sash reaching down to the ankles; worn by men in the Levant)

cape; mantle (a sleeveless garment like a cloak but shorter)

capote; hooded cloak (a long cloak with a hood that can be pulled over the head)

capuchin (a hooded cloak for women)

cope (a long cloak; worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions)

dolman (a woman's cloak with dolman sleeves)

domino (a loose hooded cloak worn with a half mask as part of a masquerade costume)

jellaba (a loose cloak with a hood; worn in the Middle East and northern Africa)

opera cloak; opera hood (a large cloak worn over evening clothes)

pallium (cloak or mantle worn by men in ancient Rome)

poncho (a blanket-like cloak with a hole in the center for the head)

shawl (cloak consisting of an oblong piece of cloth used to cover the head and shoulders)

toga (a one-piece cloak worn by men in ancient Rome)

tunic (any of a variety of loose fitting cloaks extending to the hips or knees)

wrap; wrapper (cloak that is folded or wrapped around a person)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Anything that covers or conceals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cloak" is a kind of...):

covering (an artifact that covers something else (usually to protect or shelter or conceal it))

Derivation:

cloak (hide under a false appearance)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with or as if with a cloak

Example:

cloaked monks

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cloak" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cover as if with clothing

Example:

the mountain was clothed in tropical trees

Synonyms:

cloak; clothe; drape; robe

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cloak" is one way to...):

cover; spread over (form a cover over)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hide under a false appearance

Example:

He masked his disappointment

Synonyms:

cloak; dissemble; mask

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "cloak" is one way to...):

disguise; mask (make unrecognizable)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

cloak (anything that covers or conceals)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I covered it carefully with dry wood and leaves and placed wet branches upon it; and then, spreading my cloak, I lay on the ground and sank into sleep.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But then you know, madam, muslin always turns to some account or other; Miss Morland will get enough out of it for a handkerchief, or a cap, or a cloak.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“But how came this?” asked the young clerk, who could scarce keep from laughter at the sight of the hot little man so swathed in the great white cloak.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shall hardly know myself in a blue dress and a pink satin cloak.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Yet he was so proud and had such a grand manner of talking, that no one dared to offer him a cloak or a meal.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Though global dust storms cloak the planet's surface, MRO can use its heat-sensing Mars Climate Sounder instrument to peer through the haze.

(Global Storms on Mars Launch Dust Towers Into the Sky, NASA)

An organ present in some vertebrates during embryonic gestation that surrounds the fetus and provides it with nutrients and oxygen, facilitates gas and waste exchange between the fetus and mother, and provides parasitic cloaking from the mother's immune system by excretion of neurokinin B.

(Placenta, NCI Thesaurus)

As they sank into the darkness I felt a strange chill, and a lonely feeling came over me; but a cloak was thrown over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the driver said in excellent German:—"The night is chill, mein Herr, and my master the Count bade me take all care of you. There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the country) underneath the seat, if you should require it."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

With all my heart, if you will be a brave St. Martin, stopping as you ride gallantly through the world to share your cloak with the beggar.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then the huntsman did as the old woman told him, cut open the bird, took out the heart, and carried the cloak home with him.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)