cerecloth

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

cere +‎ cloth, from Latin cera (“wax, cere”).

Noun[edit]

cerecloth (countable and uncountable, plural cerecloths)

  1. (historical) Cloth coated with wax so that it is waterproof, used for covering the dead.
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:
      ’Twere damnation
      To think so base a thought; it were too gross
      To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.
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