antimacassar

English

WOTD – 4 August 2007

Etymology

anti- +‎ macassar

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæn.tɪ.məˈkæs.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌæn.tɪ.məˈkæs.ɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æsə(ɹ)

Noun

antimacassar (plural antimacassars)

1. A cover for the back or arms of a chair or sofa, originally to prevent them from being soiled by macassar oil.
   • 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

     She was particularly fond of animals, and, besides her canary, whose cage hung on a nail in the massive wall of the keep by day, to the great annoyance of prisoners who relished an after-dinner nap, and was shrouded in an antimacassar on the parlour table at night, she kept several piebald mice and a restless revolving squirrel.

   • 1942, Emily Carr, “Mrs. Crane”, in The Book of Small‎^[1]:

     […] how could anyone on a three-legged stool under the high top of the sofa sleep? Especially if the fringe of an antimacassar lolled over the top and tickled your neck?

   • 1951 May, “Notes and News: New Coaches for C.I.E.”, in Railway Magazine, page 348:

     The upholstery is of Irish tweed, with antimacassars in Irish linen, and the rugs are hand-woven in Celtic design.

Derived terms

• antimacassared

 

Translations

cover for furniture

• French: antimacassar (fr) m, têtière (fr) f
• German: Antimakassar m, Sofaschoner m
• Greek: κάλημμα επίπλων n (kálimma epíplon)
• Russian: антимакассар (ru) f (antimakassar)