napkin

«napkin» in Mova's school dictionary: a square piece of cloth or paper used at meals to wipe… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (napkin, napkins)

meaning for a pupil

1) A napkin is a square piece of cloth or paper used at meals to wipe your mouth and fingers and keep your clothes clean. tree →

2) In some countries «napkin» (or «nappy») once meant a baby's diaper. tree →

3) A napkin can also be a square cloth used to wrap and carry things. tree →

sense in the lessons

In manners lessons pupils learn table manners: put the napkin on your lap, wipe your mouth gently, do not use your sleeve. In maths napkins are folded to show halves, quarters and lines of symmetry. Phrases: paper napkin, cloth napkin, napkin on your lap, fold the napkin.

examples

• Put your napkin on your lap. tree →
• Wipe your mouth with a napkin. tree →
• Can I have a paper napkin, please? tree →
• We folded the napkins into triangles. tree →
• Fold the napkin in half and then in half again to make quarters. tree →
• She set the table with plates and napkins. tree →
• Then John answered, "I am a merchant"; and opening his napkin he showed her its contents. tree →

note

Countable noun. In British English it is also called a «serviette». In Britain and Australia a baby's «nappy» comes from «napkin»; in the USA it is a «diaper». Maths: folding a square napkin in half twice makes four equal quarters.

In the corpora

• And Grace hid her broccoli in her napkin and said «All gone!» Nobody ever found out.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «napkin» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.