cloak

English

A man in a cloak

Alternative form

• cloke (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English cloke, from Old Northern French cloque (“travelling cloak”), from Medieval Latin clocca (“travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape”), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkloʊk/
• Rhymes: -əʊk

Noun

cloak (plural cloaks)

1. A long outer garment worn over the shoulders covering the back; a cape, often with a hood.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     ‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’

2. A blanket-like covering, often metaphorical.

   Night hid her movements with its cloak of darkness.

3. (figuratively)  That which conceals; a disguise or pretext.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 1 Thessalonians 2:5:

   For neither at any time vsed wee flattering wordes, as yee knowe, nor a cloke of couetousnesse, God is witnesse:

   Robert South

   No man is esteemed any ways considerable for policy who wears religion otherwise than as a cloak.

4. (Internet) A text replacement for an IRC user's hostname or IP address, making the user less identifiable.

Derived terms

• cloak and dagger

Translations

cape

• Belarusian: плашч m (plašč), (Polatsk dialect) плаш m (plaš)
• Bulgarian: плащ (bg) (plašt), наметало (bg) (nametalo), аба (bg) f (abá)
• Catalan: capa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 斗篷 (zh) (dǒupeng)

• Czech: plášť (cs) m
• Dutch: mantel (nl) m
• Esperanto: mantelo
• Finnish: viitta (fi)
• French: pelisse (fr) f, pèlerine (fr) f
• German: Umhang (de) m, Pelerine (de) f
• Greek: κάπα (el) f (kápa)

  Ancient: χλαῖνα f (khlaîna)

• Hungarian: köpeny (hu), köpönyeg (hu)
• Icelandic: skikkja (is) f, möntull m
• Irish: brat m
• Italian: tabarro (it) m
• Japanese: マント (manto), クローク (kurōku)

• Korean: 망토 (ko) (mangto)
• Macedonian: наметка f (nametka), плашт m (plašt)
• Maori: tūpuni
• Norman: cliôque m, manté m
• Norwegian: kappe (no) f
• Persian: قبا‎ (fa) (qabâ), یلمه‎ (fa) (yalme), فرغل‎ (farqol)
• Polish: peleryna (pl) f
• Portuguese: capa (pt) f, manto (pt) m
• Quechua: yaqulla
• Romanian: mantie (ro) f, manta (ro) f
• Russian: плащ (ru) m (plašč), ма́нтия (ru) f (mántija)
• Scottish Gaelic: cleòc m
• Serbo-Croatian: plašt (sh), pelerina (sh), kep (sh), ogrtač (sh) m
• Slovene: plašč (sl) m, ogrinjalo n
• Spanish: capa (es)
• Swedish: slängkappa c, mantel (sv) c
• Welsh: clogyn (cy) m, capan m, capanau m pl

blanket-like covering, often metaphorical

• Bulgarian: покривало (bg) n (pokrivalo)
• Catalan: mantell (ca) m
• Czech: plášť (cs) m
• Finnish: viitta (fi)
• German: Deckmantel m
• Greek: μανδύας (el) m (mandýas)

• Persian: فرغل‎ (farqol)
• Portuguese: véu (pt) m
• Russian: покро́в (ru) m (pokróv)
• Spanish: embozo (es), velo (es) m
• Swedish: mantel (sv) c, täckmantel c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} capa (es) f

See also

• burnoose, burnous, burnouse
• domino costume

Verb

cloak (third-person singular simple present cloaks, present participle cloaking, simple past and past participle cloaked)

1. (transitive) To cover as with a cloak.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To hide or conceal.
3. (science fiction, transitive, intransitive) To render or become invisible via futuristic technology.

   The ship cloaked before entering the enemy sector of space.

Derived terms

• cloaking device

Translations

to cover as with a cloak

• Catalan: emboçar (ca)
• Finnish: verhota (fi) (tr.), verhoutua (intr.)
• German: verhüllen (de)
• Italian: ammantare (it)

• Quechua: yaqullay
• Spanish: embozar (es)
• Swedish: dölja (sv), skyla (sv)