brocade

Etymology

From Occitan brocada and Spanish and Portuguese brocado, influenced by French brocart, from Italian broccato, from brocco, ultimately from Gaulish.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A thick heavy fabric into which raised patterns have been woven, originally in gold and silver; more recently any cloth incorporating raised, woven patterns.
   I selected a pair of loose, dark trousers bound at the waist with a russet sash, a tunic with an open neck and large pockets, and a cloak of the true fuligin of that guild of which I am still officially a master, lined with particolored brocade. 1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter 25, in The Urth of the New Sun, Orb Books, published 1997, →OCLC, page 179
2. An item decorated with brocade.
3. Any of several species of noctuid moths such as some species in the genera Calophasia and Hadena
   Other species considered occasional migrants have become established in the UK in recent years, such as the ... sombre brocade, Blair's mocha, Flame brocade, and Clifden nonpareil. 2016, P.P. Mary et al., edited by Akshay Kumar Chakravarthy et al., Arthropod Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics and Sub-tropics, Springer
4. (figurative) A decorative pattern.
   The shrubbery around the cottages is a brocade of lawns and shrubs intermixed, in fancy patterns, with gravel walks, in various directions, which wind into the woods. 1826, Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, A picturesque and topographical account of Cheltenham, and its Vicinity
   It is as though the poets and mystics were weaving a colorful brocade of words with the intention to please God and to show His greatness to the world. 1976, Annemarie Schimmel, Pain and Grace: A Study of Two Mystical Writers of Eighteenth-Century Muslim India, page 126
   Saying this, Rikyu stepped into the garden, shook a tree and scattered over the garden gold and crimson leaves, scraps of the brocade of autumn! 2012, Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea, page 36

verb

1. To decorate fabric with raised woven patterns.