Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A large piece of cotton, silk, or wool cloth worn as an outer garment in Morocco.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
hake . - noun A piece of stuff used as an outer garment by the peoples of the Levant, especially by the desert tribes of Arabs.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A large piece of woolen or cotton cloth worn by Arabs as an outer garment.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A covering for the head and body worn by Arabs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an outer garment consisting of a large piece of white cloth; worn by men and women in northern Africa
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Besides the haik, which is like that of a man's, a lady wears a linen cloth over her face, to conceal it from the profane vulgar when abroad.
Old Jack William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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They were wearing blue turbans above the flowing white "haik" which fell back upon their shoulders, and the white burnous which reached to their ankles.
The Soul of the War Philip Gibbs 1919
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As a means of protest, Algerian women who had previously shed the haik -- the Algerian equivalent of the burqa -- took it up again as an affront to French colonizers.
Berit Anderson: Sarkozy's Anti-Burqa Stance Deprives Women of Identity 2009
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Kenneth, “to debate thine hest;” and swallowed the narcotic, mingled as it was with some water from the spring, then wrapped him in the haik, or Arab cloak, which had been fastened to his saddle-pommel, and, according to the directions of the physician, stretched himself at ease in the shade to await the promised repose.
The Talisman 2008
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It is a foul slope; now slippery with viscous mud, then powdery with fetid dust, dotted with graves and decaying tombs, unclean booths, gargottes and tattered tents, and frequented by women, mere bundles of unclean rags, and by men wearing the haik or burnús, a Franciscan frock, tending their squatting camels and chaffering over cattle for Gibraltar beef-eaters.
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The haik or barracan is exported in great numbers to the Levant by the pilgrims.
Travels in Morocco 2003
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That she was slave, the essence and perfection of the female, was what made her such an extraordinary, special, incomparable object of desire, and that would be so whether she were kneeling in a ta-teera, clad in an evening gown or concealed from head to toe in the dark haik of the Tahira, peeping out through a tiny screen of black lace.
Magicians of Gor Norman, John, 1931- 1988
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That she was slave, the essence and perfection of the female, was what made her such an extraordinary, special, incomparable object of desire, and that would be so whether she were kneeling in a ta-terra, clad in an evening gown or concealed from head to toe in the dark haik of the Tahira, peeping out through a tiny screen of black lace.
Magicians of Gor Norman, John, 1931- 1988
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The poor would go out a locusting, as they termed it: the bushes were covered; they took their (_haik_) garment, and threw it over them, and then collected them in a sack.
An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa Abd Salam Shabeeny
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As soon as he saw the Arab in the room, his eyes, which were small and green, kindled as with fire; he erected himself in a second, his head two feet high; and darting on the defenseless Arab, seized him between the folds of his haik, just above his right hipbone, hissing most horribly; the Arab gave a horrid shriek, when another serpent came out of the cage.
An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa Abd Salam Shabeeny
bilby commented on the word haik
Scots - to wander about aimlessly; an idle person.
March 26, 2008