hammercloth

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a decorative, often weatherproof cloth covering the coachman's seat or box of a carriage

   The faded hammercloth still displayed the family's embroidered arms.

The origin is uncertain. One proposal derives the first element from Dutch hemel, 'canopy or tester'; another treats hammercloth as a corruption of hamper cloth. Other historical explanations connect it with tools or a hammock-like coach seat, but none is conclusive.

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