shawl

1662. From Persian شال‎ (šâl); see that entry for more.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɔːl/

• Audio (US cot-caught merged)

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• Rhymes: -ɔːl

shawl (plural shawls)

1. A square or rectangular piece of cloth worn as a covering for the head, neck, and shoulders.

   She wears her shawl when it's cold outside.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

2. A fold of wrinkled flesh under the lips and neck of a bloodhound, used in scenting.

• beshawled

shawl (third-person singular simple present shawls, present participle shawling, simple past and past participle shawled)

1. (transitive) To wrap in a shawl.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Thackeray to this entry?)

• Walsh