damask

See also: Damask

English

WOTD – 15 January 2010

Damask, late 15th to early 16th century

Etymology

From Middle English damaske, from Medieval Latin damascus, named after the city Damascus, where the fabric was originally made.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdæm.əsk/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

damask (countable and uncountable, plural damasks)

2. An ornate silk fabric originating from Damascus.

   True damasks are pure silk.

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     […] but what struck Tom's fancy most was a strange, grim-looking, high backed chair, carved in the most fantastic manner, with a flowered damask cushion, and the round knobs at the bottom of the legs carefully tied up in red cloth, as if it had got the gout in its toes.

3. Linen so woven that a pattern is produced by the different directions of the thread, without contrast of colour.
4. A heavy woolen or worsted stuff with a pattern woven in the same way as the linen damask; made for furniture covering and hangings.
   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:

     Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

5. Damascus steel.
6. The peculiar markings or water of such steel.
7. A damask rose, Rosa × damascena.
8. A grayish-pink color, like that of the damask rose.

   damask:  

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     Thursday. D. certainly improved. Better night. Slight tinge of damask revisiting cheek.

Derived terms

• satin damask

Translations

fabric

• Arabic: فِرِنْد m (firind)
• Armenian: քամխա (kʻamxa) (obsolete)
• Bulgarian: дамаска f (damaska)
• Catalan: domàs (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 緞子／缎子 (zh) (duànzi)

• Czech: damašek m
• Danish: damask n
• Dutch: damast (nl) n
• Finnish: damasti (fi)
• French: damas (fr)
• German: Damast (de) m, Damastgewebe n
• Greek: δαμάσκο (el) n (damásko)
• Hungarian: damaszt (hu), damaszk
• Irish: damasc m
• Italian: damasco (it) m
• Japanese: 絢緞子 (あやどんす, ayadonsu)
• Kazakh: қамқа (qamqa)
• Macedonian: дамаст m (damast)
• Norwegian: damask m
• Persian: پرنیان (fa) (parniyân), پرند (fa) (parand), کمخا (kamxâ, kemxâ)
• Polish: adamaszek (pl) m
• Portuguese: damasco (pt) m
• Romanian: damasc (ro) n
• Russian: дама́ст m (damást), камка́ (ru) f (kamká)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: да̀маст m

  Roman: dàmast (sh) m

• Slovene: damast m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: damast m

• Spanish: damasco (es) m
• Swedish: damast (sv)
• Tatar: камка (tt) (qamka)
• Turkish: damasko (tr)
• Ukrainian: дамаст m (damast)

type of linen

heavy cloth with a pattern woven in the same way as the linen damask

• Catalan: domàs (ca) m

Damascus steel — see Damascus steel

peculiar markings on Damascus steel

• Arabic: فِرِنْد m (firind)
• Finnish: damaskikuvio
• German: Damast (de) m
• Persian: پرند (fa) (parand)

damask rose — see damask rose

grayish-pink colour

• French: lie-de-vin (fr)
• Japanese: ばら色 (ばらいろ, barairo)
• Romanian: lie-de-vin

Adjective

damask (comparative more damask, superlative most damask)

1. Of a grayish-pink color, like that of the damask rose.
   • 1973, Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:

     My cage has many rooms / Damask and dark / Nothing there sings, / Not even my lark.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, / Feed on her damask cheek

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     They had a lurking suspicion even, that he died of secret love; though I must say there was a picture of him in the house with a damask nose, which concealment did not appear to have ever preyed upon.

Translations

colour

• French: lie-de-vin (fr)
• Greek: δαμασκηνί (el) n (damaskiní)
• Romanian: lie-de-vin

Verb

damask (third-person singular simple present damasks, present participle damasking, simple past and past participle damasked)

1. To decorate or weave in damascene patterns
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 19:

     Madame de Mercœur had herself arranged her dress, which was splendid white silk, damasked with silver flowers; but it was with much internal misgiving that she put on the graceful cap and plume.

Derived terms

• damascene
• damask plum
• damask rose
• Damask steel

 

Translations

decorate or weave in damascene patterns

• Catalan: endomassar (ca), adomassar (ca)
• Italian: damascare (it)
• Portuguese: damasquinar
• Spanish: adamascar (es)

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermilion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}
• dornick
• kincob
• lampas

Anagrams

• kadams

Danish

Etymology

From Italian damasco (“damask”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /damask/, [ˈd̥amasɡ̊]

Noun

damask n (singular definite damasket, not used in plural form)

1. damask

Further reading

• damask on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian damasco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daˈmask/

Noun

damask m

1. damask
2. Damascus steel

Related terms

• damaskina (dumaskina, domaskina)
• ddamaska

 

Swedish

Noun

damask c

1. spat, gaiter

Declension

Declension of damask
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	damask	damasken	damasker	damaskerna
Genitive	damasks	damaskens	damaskers	damaskernas