wimple, guimple, gwimple A woman's head-dress of the Middle Ages, worn chiefly from the late twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century and, less fashionably, in the fifteenth century, consisting of a piece of linen or silk, usually white, fastened to the hair on the crown or on each side above the cars and draped to cover the chin, neck and throat; the lower edge was often tucked into the gown neckline. The wimple head-dress was completed by a couvrechef or veil (see also Barbette, Couvrechef, Gorget).
