doily

noun

Etymology: From Doiley, the name of a 17th-century London draper. The surname is Anglo-Norman, from d'Œuilly, name of several places in Calvados, from Old French oeil (“eye”).

1. A small ornamental piece of lace or linen or paper used to protect a surface from scratches by hard objects such as vases or bowls; or to decorate a plate of food.

   “She looked polite, and observed the oiled floors, hard-wood staircase, unused fireplace with tiles which resembled brown linoleum, cut-glass vases standing upon doilies, and the barred, shut, forbidding unit bookcases that were half filled with swashbuckler novels and unread-looking sets of Dickens, Kipling, O. Henry, and Elbert Hubbard.”

   “Beg pardon, I'm soiling the doileys / With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.”

2. A similar circular piece of lace worn as a head-covering by some married Jewish women.
3. An old kind of woollen material.