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Cloak vs Shawl - What's the difference?

cloak | shawl |

As nouns the difference between cloak and shawl

is that cloak is a long outer garment worn over the shoulders covering the back; a cape, often with a hood while shawl is a square or rectangular piece of cloth worn as a covering for the head, neck, and shoulders.

As verbs the difference between cloak and shawl

is that cloak is to cover as with a cloak while shawl is to wrap in a shawl.

cloak

English

(wikipedia cloak)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A long outer garment worn over the shoulders covering the back; a cape, often with a hood.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=5 citation , passage=‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’}}
  • A blanket-like covering, often metaphorical.
  • (figurative)  That which conceals; a disguise or pretext.
  • * South
  • No man is esteemed any ways considerable for policy who wears religion otherwise than as a cloak .
  • (Internet)  A text replacement for an IRC user's hostname or IP address, making the user less identifiable.
  • Derived terms

    * cloak and dagger

    See also

    * burnoose, burnous, burnouse * domino costume

    Verb

  • To cover as with a cloak.
  • (science fiction, ambitransitive) To render or become invisible via futuristic technology.
  • The ship cloaked before entering the enemy sector of space.

    Derived terms

    * cloaking device

    shawl

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia shawl) (en noun)
  • A square or rectangular piece of cloth worn as a covering for the head, neck, and shoulders.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls , and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,

    Derived terms

    * beshawled

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To wrap in a shawl.
  • (Thackeray)