Crossword clues for napery
napery
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Napery \Na"per*y\, n.; pl. Naperies. [OF. naperie, fr. nape a
tablecloth, F. nappe, LL. napa, fr. L. mappa. See Map, and
cf. Apron, Napkin.]
Table linen; also, linen clothing, or linen in general.
[Obs.]
--Gayton.
Wiktionary
n. Household linen, especially table linen.
WordNet
n. linens for the dining table [syn: table linen]
Wikipedia
Napery (from Old French naperie ) is linen used for household purposes, such as table linen. Historically it was the office in a medieval household responsible for the washing and storage of these items. It was headed by a naperer. This office worked closely together with the offices of the laundry (washing and storage of clothing) and the ewery (water and the vessels for drinking or washing of the person), and the three could be concurrent in smaller households.
Usage examples of "napery".
Hilliard considered him through her lorgnon, but the man was busy with the napery and escaped punishment.
And the napery, the glassware and the flowers also meritoriously performed the spectacular duties required of them.
There was such a buying of wool to make blankets, with a booming of the meikle wheel to spin the same, and such birring of the little wheel for sheets and napery, that the manse was for many a day like an organ kist.
Indeed for quiet family parties it was from among them only that Mme de Guermantes might select her guests, and in the dinners for twelve, gathered around the dazzling napery and plate, they were like the golden statues of the Apostles in the Sainte- Chapelle, symbolic, consecrative pillars before the Holy Table.
Inconspicuously dropping his napkin, he had a good look under the tablecloth as he retrieved the napery.