agraffe

or a·grafe

[ uh-graf ]

noun
  1. a small cramp iron.

  2. a clasp, often richly ornamented, for clothing or armor.

  1. a device, as a hook, for preventing vibration in the section of a piano string between the pin and the bridge.

  2. (in classical architecture) a sculptural relief on the face of a keystone.

Origin of agraffe

1
1660–70; <French, variant of agrafe, noun derivative of agrafer to hook, equivalent to a-a-5 + grafe hook, cramp iron, probably <Germanic; see grape

Words Nearby agraffe

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use agraffe in a sentence

  • What part the agraffe played in it (a medival beast I imagined) I could not know, could not guess.

    The Crow's Nest | Clarence Day, Jr.
  • The hair is long, and over it is worn a neat cap with lappets and a golden agraffe and love-knot, to support the hair.

    Ten Thousand Wonderful Things | Edmund Fillingham King
  • He added that others such as Stroom, Graith, and agraffe appeared in his poems.

    The Crow's Nest | Clarence Day, Jr.
  • But he wrote certain poems, in which Stroom and Graith, and the agraffe appear.

    The Crow's Nest | Clarence Day, Jr.

British Dictionary definitions for agraffe

agraffe

sometimes US agrafe

/ (əˈɡræf) /


noun
  1. a fastening consisting of a loop and hook, formerly used in armour and clothing

  2. a metal cramp used to connect stones

Origin of agraffe

1
C18: from French, from grafe a hook

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012