PLEAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pleat mean? 

• PLEAT (noun)
  The noun PLEAT has 1 sense:

1. any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape

  Familiarity information: PLEAT used as a noun is very rare.

• PLEAT (verb)
  The verb PLEAT has 2 senses:

1. pleat or gather into a ruffle

2. fold into pleats

  Familiarity information: PLEAT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLEAT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

plait; pleat

Hypernyms ("pleat" is a kind of...):

bend; crease; crimp; flexure; fold; plication (an angular or rounded shape made by folding)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pleat"):

box pleat (a flat double pleat made by folding under the fabric on either side of it)

inverted pleat (a box pleat reversed so that the fullness is turned inward)

kick pleat (pleat in back of a straight skirt to allow ease in walking)

knife pleat (a single pleat turned in one direction)

tuck (a narrow flattened pleat or fold that is stitched in place)

Derivation:

pleat (pleat or gather into a ruffle)

• PLEAT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pleat    ... he / she / it pleats   
Past simple: pleated   
Past participle: pleated   
-ing form: pleating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pleat or gather into a ruffle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

pleat; ruffle

Context example:

ruffle the curtain fabric

Hypernyms (to "pleat" is one way to...):

fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

pleat (any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape)

pleating (the act of folding in parallel folds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fold into pleats

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

pleat; plicate

Context example:

Pleat the cloth

Hypernyms (to "pleat" is one way to...):

fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

The hats of the men were blue; the little woman's hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Two major conformational groups have been characterized, alpha-keratin, whose peptide backbone forms an alpha-helix, and beta-keratin, whose backbone forms a zigzag or pleated sheet structure.

(Cytokeratin, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Remarkably, these engineering researchers developed this first mathematical proof, which shows that the elegant shape folded from concentrically pleated squares is invariantly a hyperbolic paraboloid, said Nakhiah Goulbourne, NSF program director for Mechanics of Materials and Structures.

(Saddle-shaped origami enables new microelectronic applications, National Science Foundation)