Neckcloths

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of cloth worn around the neck as a form of accessory or decoration
2. An attire item often associated with formal or historical clothing styles
3. A fabric piece used to enhance or complement the appearance of garments worn on the upper body

Etymology: "Neckcloths" is simply the plural of "neckcloth," a compound of "neck" and "cloth." The pairing describes the object exactly: a length of fabric worn around the throat, a cloth for the neck. Its form is the plain product of two common English words joined together, with nothing in its construction that needed a special coinage. Its history lies in the garment it names. Men's neckwear of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries took many forms, and the neckcloth was the generic term for a cloth tied or folded about the throat, sometimes spread into elaborate shapes that carried over into the cravat and the modern necktie. Plural "neckcloths" simply refers to several such pieces at once.