Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Made of cheveril; pliant.
  • noun obsolete Soft leather made of kid skin. Fig.: Used as a symbol of flexibility.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete Soft leather made of kid skin.
  • adjective obsolete Made of cheveril; pliant.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Theobald's etymology of 'cheveril' is, of course quite right; -- but he is mistaken in supposing that there were no such things as gloves of chicken-skin.

    Literary Remains, Volume 2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

  • A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit: how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward!

    Twelfth Night; or, What You Will 2004

  • They are perfectly satisfied as to the age of the cheveril and the writing materials and that apart from saltwater stains there has been no subsequent interference.

    Killer Dolphin Marsh, Ngaio, 1895-1982 1966

  • QUOTATION: They have cheveril consciences that will stretch.

    Quotations 1919

  • O! here’s a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad.

    Act II. Scene IV. Romeo and Juliet 1914

  • A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit: how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward!

    Act III. Scene I. Twelfth-Night; or, What You Will 1914

  • A sentence is but a _cheveril_ glove to a good wit.

    Literary Remains, Volume 2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

  • A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit: how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward!

    Twelfth Night; or What You Will 1601

  • O here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!

    Romeo and Juliet 1595

  • O here’s a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!

    Romeo and Juliet 2004

Comments

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  • My wardrobe's omissions are several.

    They're things I don't own nor ever will:

    A cane and cravat

    A shiny top hat,

    Or buff-colored gloves made of cheveril.

    June 13, 2016

  • (noun) - Kid leather. Hence, a very flexible conscience was called a chevril conscience. From French cheveril, goat.

    --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855

    January 17, 2018