diaper
verb
- to put a diaper on or change a diaper
- to ornament with diaper designs
noun
- type of underwear that allows one to defecate or urinate, without the use of a toilet
- a pattern composed of small, regularly repeated geometric motifs, usually diamonds or lozenges, used to decorate a surface
- a white cotton or linen fabric having such a pattern
- a piece of such fabric
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈdaɪ(ə)pə/ / /ˈdaɪ(ə)pɚ/
name
Etymology: A variant of the surnames Dipper and Dyper. Unrelated to diaper.
- A surname.
“Lord Orrery was President to-day; but both our dukes were absent. Brother Wyndham recommended [William] Diaper to the Society. I believe we shall make a contribution among ourselves, which I don't like.”
“At the end of the week, when, according to appointment, he waited on Mr. Diaper, he was informed laconically that he would not suit, and became aware of the extreme folly of his conduct. The sudden thought that he had spent nearly half of his capital since that day week, aroused him to a very alarming conviction of his danger. With the pardonable anxiety produced by the fear of want, he asked Mr. Diaper to favour him with an acconnt of what Mr. Wiggins had said of him, which, as a matter of course, Mr. Diaper declined doing, merely stating that the character given was not what suited.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English dyaper, diapre, dyapre, from Old French diapre, dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with floral or decorative geometrical patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable silken cloth”), probably from Byzantine Greek δίασπρος (díaspros, “very white; pure white”, adjective), from δια- (dia-, “across”) + ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).
- An absorbent garment worn around the crotch that retains the wearer's urine and feces, often worn by a baby or young child who is not yet toilet trained, or by an adult who is incontinent or wets the bed, or under extreme working conditions without access to a toilet; a nappy.
“cloth diaper, disposable diaper, nighttime diaper, swim diaper”
“A bag of baby-clothes, containing 1 ſheet, 1 ſhi[r]t, 1 bedgown, 12 diapers, 2 child's bedgowns, 2 child's ſhirts, 2 child's robes, 2 child's nightcaps and a wrapper.”
- A textile fabric having a repeating pattern, especially of diamonds or flowers, formed by alternating directions of thread.
“Near-synonym: diamond twill”
“Diaper table clothes the peece containing xx.yards xl.s”
- Something that absorbs and collects (retains) liquid or waste material, much like a diaper (noun sense 1).
“engine diaper, meat diaper, period diaper, rubber diaper”
“Pendent straps in front and behind support a diaper, or its equivalent, during the period of the menses.”
- A piece of clothing that resembles the shape of a diaper (noun sense 1) but lacks the absorbency.
“Gandhi was the holiest man in the world and ONLY holy men know how to fight in this world. Gandhi only needs a little diaper and no shoes. He does not need very much food. He doesn't ask for any of the riches of the whole world.”
“I suppose the average American or European, if asked about Mahatma Gandhi, would summarize his knowledge as follows: Gandhi is a thin, brown toothless Indian, dressed in a diaper, who lives on goat's milk and vegetables, fasts frequently, and has been twisting the British lion's tail for a quarter of a century inside and outside of jail.”
- A repeating geometrical or (often stylised) floral pattern, usually of small diamonds evenly spaced, that decorates a flat surface, sometimes in bas-relief; diaperwork.
“The troilled piece, that woven like a courſe gauze, and the lining in a diaper pattern, preſent ſamples which prove that the art of weaving was far advanced at that period.”
“[…] a mode of treatment which is also—and perhaps in a much greater degree—frequent in early painting, where a flat ground of gold or bright colour, broken and enriched with stamped or painted diaper, outlines and relieves the subject.”
- A repeating geometrical or floral pattern, used to cover the surface of a shield and forming the ground for any charges.
“Near-synonym: fur”
“Note, that you may haue diaper on any two, three, or more of theſe, or any other their like, in one Bordure, and that not onely Bordures, but aſso Fields of coat-armours are found diapered. […] And albeit things hauing life and ſenſe, or their parts, may bee borne diapered; yet Plants, Fruits, Leaves, Flowers, and other Vegetables, are (in the opinion of ſome Armoriſts) judged to be more fit for ſuch kinde of bearing. This kinde of bearing of diaper in coat-armour, is ſometimes ſeene in Coates of France, and Belgia, but very rare or neuer in England.”
- A towel, napkin or tablecloth made from the diaper fabric (noun sense 2).
“Let one attend him with a silver basin, […] / Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper.”
“3 Pˢ Sheeting ditto. 1 Pˢ Cambrick. 2 Pˢ Table Diaper. 64 Pˢ Buckrams.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English dyaper, diapre, dyapre, from Old French diapre, dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with floral or decorative geometrical patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable silken cloth”), probably from Byzantine Greek δίασπρος (díaspros, “very white; pure white”, adjective), from δια- (dia-, “across”) + ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).
- To put diapers on someone.
“Diapering a baby is something you have to learn fast.”
“It is pretty hard to make a mistake when diapering a baby. About the only way a person can go wrong is to put the diaper on backward, a condition that neither the diaperer nor the diaperee is likely to notice.”
- To draw flowers or figures, as upon cloth.
“If you diaper upon folds, let your work be broken.”