brocade means A thick heavy fabric into which raised patterns have been woven, originally in gold and silver; more recently any cloth incorporating raised, woven patterns. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.
Why this word is great
BROCADE — [Noun] A rich fabric, often silk, woven with a raised, elaborate design distinct from its ground. From Italian broccato ("embossed fabric"), from brocco ("twisted thread, spike"), ultimately from Gaulish. Unlike damask, whose reversible pattern is a subtle play of light on a flat weave, or embroidery, where ornament is applied after the fact, brocade is its own structural opulence, its design born from the loom itself. It is the heavy rustle of a coronation robe; the gilded vines climbing a cardinal's vestment; the cool, raised topography of dragons and pomegranates under a trailing hand—a testament to the human will to weave meaning, and not merely cloth, from raw, tangled threads.
noun
- A thick heavy fabric into which raised patterns have been woven, originally in gold and silver; more recently any cloth incorporating raised, woven patterns.“Madame Legarde, the "glass of fashion and the nurse of form," (alias the most fashionable of milliners,) has comfortably assured me, "that my figure has great merit, and only requires cultivation:" this is to be done by tissues, brocades, and laces, which are now scattered round me in charming confusion.”
- An item decorated with brocade.
- Any of several species of noctuid moths such as some species in the genera Calophasia and Hadena“Other species considered occasional migrants have become established in the UK in recent years, such as the ... sombre brocade, Blair's mocha, Flame brocade, and Clifden nonpareil.”
- A decorative pattern.“The shrubbery around the cottages is a brocade of lawns and shrubs intermixed, in fancy patterns, with gravel walks, in various directions, which wind into the woods.”
verb
- To decorate fabric with raised woven patterns.