neck-kerchief

A form of neckerchief — A scarf that is worn looped or tied around the neck.

Meanings

nounneck-kerchief (plural neck-kerchiefs or neck-kerchieves)

plural neck-kerchiefs · plural neck-kerchieves

  1. alternativeAlternative form of neckerchief.

    Never did Neck-kerchief become me ſo well as this Chain (ſaid Alice Drivers) when they faſtened her to the Stake to be burnt.

    1654, R[ichard] Younge, “[The Benefit of Affliction, and how to husband it so, that (with blessing from above) the weakest Christian may be able to support himself in his most miserable Exigents.] How it makes them conformable unto Christ their head.”, in A Sovereign Antidote Against All Grief. […], fourth impression, London: […] R. & W. Leybourn, for James Crump, […], page 43
    3 more examples

    He was dressed in a suit of black clothes which were rather rusty and dry too, and rather short in the sleeves and legs; and he had a white neck-kerchief on that was not over-clean. I did not, and do not, suppose that this neck-kerchief was all the linen he wore, but it was all he showed or gave any hint of.

    1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “I am Sent Away from Home”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 54

    The women wear neck-kerchieves spreading over their shoulders, and ruffs, but their aprons show that they are shop-keepers rather than gentry; their high-crowned felt hats are of the mid-Elizabethan fashion.

    1978, Joanna Bird, Hugh Chapman, John Clark, editors, Collectanea Londiniensia: Studies in London Archaeology and History Presented to Ralph Merrifield, London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, page 271

    Dogs sporting Sunday best of bright pink shorts, T-shirts, neck-kerchiefs and even tutus crowded into an adjoining room after the service to lap up their owners’ leftover donuts.

    2004 October 6, Melanie White, “Pious as a church mouse: Creatures great and small rouse merry commotion at annual pet blessing”, in Jackson Hole News&Guide, Jackson, Wyo., page 3B, columns 2–3
Cite this entry
APA

neck-kerchief. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neck-kerchief

MLA

“neck-kerchief.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neck-kerchief. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “neck-kerchief,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neck-kerchief.

Source: neck-kerchief on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.