# drape

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɹeɪp/ · frequency rank #39,786

## Definitions
1. A curtain; a drapery.
2. The way in which fabric falls or hangs.
3. A member of a youth subculture distinguished by its sharp dress, especially peg-leg pants (1950s: e.g. Baltimore, MD). Antonym: square.
4. A dress made from an entire piece of cloth, without having pieces cut away as in a fitted garment.

## Etymology
From Middle English drape (“a drape”, noun), from Old French draper (“to drape; to full cloth”), from drap (“cloth, drabcloth”), from Late Latin drappus, drapus (“drabcloth, kerchief”), a word first recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne, probably from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”, literally “that which is struck or for striking”), from Proto-Germanic *drapiz (“a strike, hit, blow”) and Proto-Germanic *drēpiz (“intended for striking, to be beaten”), both from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to beat, crush, make or become thick”). Cognate with English drub (“to beat”), North Frisian dreep (“a blow”), Low German drapen, dräpen (“to strike”), German treffen (“to meet”), Swedish dräpa (“to slay”). More at drub.

## Easily confused with
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-dre)
- **drop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drop)
- **draw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-draw)
- **drip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drip)
- **dupe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-dupe)
- **drive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drive)
- **drawn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drawn)
- **drove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drove)
- **drops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drops)
- **draws** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-draws)
- **drone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drone)
- **Duane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-duane)
- **Druze** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-druze)
- **drawer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drawer)
- **draper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-draper)
- **draped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-draped)
- **drapes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drapes)
- **drapery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drape-vs-drapery)
- **DAE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dae-vs-drape)
- **dap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dap-vs-drape)

## Common misspellings (7)
`darpe`, `ddrape`, `draep`, `drappe`, `drpae`, `drrape`, `rdape`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/drape