I'll ne'er distust my God for cloth and bread.
Quarles.
3. The distinctive dress of any profession, especially of the clergy; hence, the clerical profession.
Appeals were made to the priesthood. Would they tamely permit so gross an insult to be offered to their cloth?
Macaulay.
The cloth, the clergy, are constituted for administering and for giving the best possible effect to . . . every axiom.
I. Taylor.
Body cloth. See under Body. -- Cloth of gold, a fabric woven wholly or partially of threads of gold. -- Cloth measure, the measure of length and surface by which cloth is measured and sold. For this object the standard yard is usually divided into quarters and nails. -- Cloth paper, a coarse kind of paper used in pressing and finishing woolen cloth. -- Cloth shearer, one who shears cloth and frees it from superfluous nap.
Clothe (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clothed (&?;) or Clad (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Clothing.] [OE. clathen, clothen, clethen, AS. clāian, clŠan. See Cloth.] 1. To put garments on; to cover with clothing; to dress.
Go with me, to clothe you as becomes you.
Shak.
2. To provide with clothes; as, to feed and clothe a family; to clothe one's self extravagantly.
Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Prov. xxiii. 21.
The naked every day he clad,
When he put on his clothes.
Goldsmith.
3. Fig.: To cover or invest, as with a garment; as, to clothe one with authority or power.
Language in which they can clothe their thoughts.
Watts.
His sides are clothed with waving wood.
J. Dyer.
Thus Belial, with with words clothed in reason's garb.
Milton.