Dictionary:

coif

  (koif)

1. (also kwäf) A coiffure.
2. A tight-fitting cap worn under a veil, as by nuns.
3. A white skullcap formerly worn by English lawyers.
4. A heavy skullcap of steel or leather, formerly worn under a helmet or mail hood.

1. (also kwäf) To arrange or dress (the hair).
2. To cover with or as if with a coif.

[Middle English, from Old French coife, from Late Latin cofea, helmet, of Germanic origin.]

Headdress formerly worn by English sergeants at law. "Order of the Coif" is an honorary legal fraternity in the United States.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a skullcap worn by nuns under a veil or by soldiers under a hood of mail or formerly by British sergeants-at-law

The verb coif has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: cover with a coif

Meaning #2: arrange attractively
  Synonyms: dress, arrange, set, do, coiffe, coiffure

Medieval coif

Detail of Edward VI as a child by Holbein, 1538. He wears a linen coif under a cloth-of-gold coif and a feathered hat.

A coif (IPA: /ˈkɔɪf/) is a close fitting cap that covers the top, back, and sides of the head, worn by all classes in England and Scotland from the Middle Ages to the early seventeenth century (and later as an old-fashioned cap for countrywomen and young children).

Tudor (later Stewart in Scotland) and earlier coifs are usually made of unadorned white linen and tie under the chin. In the Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras, coifs were frequently decorated with blackwork embroidery and lace edging.

Coifs were also worn by an extinct senior grade of English lawyer, the Serjeant-at-Law. A United States law school honor society, the Order of the Coif, is named after this use of the coif.

Coifs were worn under gable hoods and hats of all sorts, and alone as indoor headcoverings.

Coifs were also a type of armour, traditionally made of mail, which covered the head (face excluded), neck and shoulders.

See also

• 1500-1550 in fashion
• 1550-1600 in fashion

References

Oxford English Dictionary

George Wingfield Digby. Elizabethan Embroidery. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1964.

External links

• Tudor and Elizabethan Coifs
• Medieval Men's Coifs

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