Acloak is a type of loosegarment worn over clothing, mostly but not always asouterwear for outdoor wear, which serves the same purpose as anovercoat and protects the wearer from the weather. It may form part of auniform.[1] People in many different societies may wear cloaks. Over time, cloak designs have changed to matchfashion and availabletextiles.[2]
Cloaks generally fasten at the neck or over the shoulder, and vary in length from the hip to the ankle, with mid-calf being the normal length. They may have an attachedhood and may cover and fasten down the front, in which case they have holes or slits for the hands to pass through. However, cloaks are almost always sleeveless.
Christianclerics may wear acappa or acope – forms of cloak – as liturgicalvestments or as part of areligious habit.[3]
The wordcloak comes from Old North Frenchcloque (Old Frenchcloche,cloke) meaning "bell", fromMedieval Latinclocca "travelers'cape," literally "a bell," so called from the garment's bell-like shape. Thus the word is related to the wordclock.[4]
Ancient Greeks and Romans were known to wear cloaks. Greek men and women wore thehimation, from the Archaic through the Hellenistic periods (c. 750–30 BC).[5] Romans would later wear the Greek-styled cloak, thepallium. Thepallium was quadrangular, shaped like a square,[6] and sat on the shoulders, not unlike thehimation.
Romans of the Republic would wear thetoga as a formal display of their citizenship. It was denied to foreigners[7] and was worn by magistrates on all occasions as a badge of office. The toga allegedly originated withNuma Pompilius (r. 715–672 BC), the second semi-legendary king of Rome.[8]
Eminent personages inKievan Rus' adopted the Byzantinechlamys in the form of a fur-linedkorzno [uk][9](Old East Slavic:кързно).[10]
Powerful noblemen and elite warriors of theAztec Empire would wear atilmàtli; aMesoamerican cloak/cape used as a symbol of their upper status. Cloth and clothing was of utmost importance for the Aztecs. The more elaborate and colorful tilmàtlis were strictly reserved for élite high priests,emperors; and theEagle warriors as well as theJaguar knights.[11]
In fullevening dress in the Western countries,ladies andgentlemen frequently use the cloak as afashion statement, or to protect the finefabrics of evening wear from the elements, especially where acoat would crush or hide the garment. Opera cloaks are made of quality materials such as wool or cashmere, velvet and satin.
Ladies may wear a long (over the shoulders or to ankles) cloak usually called acape, or a full-length cloak. Gentlemen wear an ankle-length or full-length cloak. Formal cloaks often have expensive, colored linings and trimmings such assilk,satin,velvet andfur.
The term was the title of a 1942 operatic comedy.[12]
According to theKing James Version of the Bible, Matthew recorded Jesus of Nazareth saying in Matthew 5:40: "And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also." The King James Version of the Bible has the words recorded a little differently in Luke 6:29: "...and him that taketh away thy cloke, forbid not to take thy coat also."
Cloaks are a staple garment in thefantasy genre due to the popularity ofmedieval settings. They are also usually associated withwitches,wizards, andvampires; the best-known stage version ofDracula, which first made actorBela Lugosi prominent, featured him wearing it so that his exit through a trap door concealed on the stage could seem sudden. When Lugosi reprised his role as Dracula for the 1931Universal Studios motion picture version of the play, he retained the cloak as part of his outfit, which made such a strong impression that cloaks came to be equated withCount Dracula in nearly all non-historical media depictions of him.
Fantasy cloaks are oftenmagical. For example, they may grant the person wearing itinvisibility as in theHarry Potter series byJ. K. Rowling. A similar sort of garment is worn by the members of the Fellowship of the Ring inThe Lord of the Rings byJ. R. R. Tolkien, although instead of granting complete invisibility, the Elf-made cloaks simply appear to shift between any natural color (e.g. green, gray, brown) to help the wearer to blend in with their surroundings. In theMarvelcomic book stories and in theMarvel Cinematic Universe, the sorcererDoctor Strange is associated with a magicalCloak of Levitation, which not only enables its wearer tolevitate, but has other mystical abilities as well.Doctor Strange also uses it as a weapon. Alternatively, cloaks in fantasy may nullify magicalprojectiles, as the "cloak of magic resistance" inNetHack.
Figuratively, a cloak may be anything that disguises or conceals something. In many science fiction franchises, such asStar Trek, there arecloaking devices, which provide a way to avoid detection by making objects appear invisible. A real device, albeit of limited capability, was demonstrated in 2006.[13]
Because they keep a person hidden and conceal a weapon, the phrasecloak and dagger has come to refer toespionage[14] andsecretive crimes: it suggests murder from hidden sources. "Cloak and dagger" stories are thus mystery, detective, and crime stories of this. The vigilante duo of Marvel comicsCloak and Dagger[15] is a reference to this.
a simple wrap .. extra layer of protection from the elements
The prince'skorzno cloak [...] was an exact copy of the Byzantine chlamys of a rectangular or semicircular cut. It was thrown over the left shoulder and fixed with a brooch (fibula) on the right shoulder.
Damrosch's operatic comedy, "The Opera Cloak"
... the comics company's .. live-action series
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