peplum

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛpləm/

From Latin peplum, from Ancient Greek πέπλον (péplon), neuter of πέπλος (péplos).

peplum (plural peplums or pepla)

1. (historical) A peplos, an Ancient Greek garment formed of a tubular piece of cloth folded back upon itself halfway down so that the top of the tube is worn around the waist, and the bottom covers the legs down to the ankles; the open top is then worn over the shoulders, and draped, in folds, down to the waist. Compare the Roman palla.
2. (historical) A kind of women's outer garment in ancient Greece; a veil.
   • 1837: Ralph Cudworth, D. D., The True Intellectual System of the Universe (First American Edition, with references and an account of the author by Thomas Birch, M. A. F. R. S.)

     And this was Neith, or Athena, that God thus described, "I am all that was, is, and shall be, and my peplum or veil, no mortal could ever uncover." […] Peplum is properly a womanish pall or veil, embroidered all over and consecrated to Minerva.

   • 1838: The North American Review, volume XLVII

     The outer garment was called the peplum, and was used more for occasions of ceremony than for ordinary convenience, as it was very long and ample, and, from the manner of putting it on, must have been inconvenient to the wearer. It was sometimes wound double round the body, […]

   • 1904, G. Woolliscroft Rhead, The Treatment of Drapery in Art:

     Over this they adopted the Greek peplum, under the name of palla. This garment, however, was exclusively confined to the gentler sex, and was never worn, as was the peplum among the Greeks, by men.

3. (fashion) A short overskirt cut in such a way that the sides form points. [from 20th century]
4. (fashion) A short overskirt attached to the waist of a garment; a basque.

• Wikipedia article on the palla
• peplos
• palla
• exomis
• himation
• chlamys
• chiton

From French péplum, from Latin peplum, from Ancient Greek πέπλων (péplōn), neuter of πέπλος (péplos).

peplum (countable and uncountable, plural peplums or pepla)

1. (uncountable) A genre of Italian films based on historical or biblical epics. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (countable) An individual film in this genre.
   • 2006, Pierluigi on Cinema:

     […] there were hastily produced B movies, such as the peplums, the spaghetti westerns, the detective stories, the horrors.

   • 2013, Bryan Senn, The Most Dangerous Cinema: People Hunting People on Film:

     While it does offer a lighter tone than most peplums, and spotlights a hero who relies more on his wits than his biceps […]

• (film genre): sword-and-sandal

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πέπλον (péplon), neuter variant of πέπλος (péplos).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.plum/, [ˈpɛpɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ] or IPA^(key): /ˈpep.lum/, [ˈpɛpɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.plum/, [ˈpɛːplum] or IPA^(key): /ˈpep.lum/, [ˈpɛplum]

peplum n (genitive peplī); second declension

1. robe of state

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• → English: peplum
• → French: péplum
  • → English: peplum
  • → Spanish: péplum
• → Romanian: peplum
• → Spanish: peplum

• “pē̆plum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Borrowed from Latin peplum.

peplum n (plural peplumuri)

1. peplum

Borrowed from Latin peplum. Doublet of péplum.

• IPA^(key): /peˈplum/ [peˈplũm]
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: pe‧plum

peplum m (plural peplums)

1. peplum