diaper

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An absorbent garment worn around the crotch that retains the wearer's urine and feces, often worn by a baby or young child who is not yet toilet trained, or by an adult who is incontinent or wets the bed, or under extreme working conditions without access to a toilet; a nappy.

   cloth diaper, disposable diaper, nighttime diaper, swim diaper

2. 2
   noun

   A textile fabric having a repeating pattern, especially of diamonds or flowers, formed by alternating directions of thread.

   Near-synonym: diamond twill

3. 3
   noun

   Something that absorbs and collects (retains) liquid or waste material, much like a diaper (noun sense 1).

   engine diaper, meat diaper, period diaper, rubber diaper

4. 4
   noun

   A piece of clothing that resembles the shape of a diaper (noun sense 1) but lacks the absorbency.

   Gandhi was the holiest man in the world and ONLY holy men know how to fight in this world. Gandhi only needs a little diaper and no shoes. He does not need very much food. He doesn't ask for any of the riches of the whole world.

5. 5
   noun

   A repeating geometrical or (often stylised) floral pattern, usually of small diamonds evenly spaced, that decorates a flat surface, sometimes in bas-relief; diaperwork.

   The troilled piece, that woven like a courſe gauze, and the lining in a diaper pattern, preſent ſamples which prove that the art of weaving was far advanced at that period.

6. 6
   noun

   A repeating geometrical or floral pattern, used to cover the surface of a shield and forming the ground for any charges.

   Near-synonym: fur

7. 7
   noun

   A towel, napkin or tablecloth made from the diaper fabric (noun sense 2).

   Let one attend him with a silver basin, […] / Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper.

8. 8
   verb

   To put diapers on someone.

   Diapering a baby is something you have to learn fast.

Etymology

From Middle English dyaper, diapre, dyapre, from Old French diapre, dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with floral or decorative geometrical patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable silken cloth”), probably from Byzantine Greek δίασπρος (díaspros, “very white; pure white”, adjective), from δια- (dia-, “across”) + ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).