Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The concealing of personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings.
  • noun A shape or coloring that conceals.
  • noun Cloth, netting, or other material used for camouflage.
  • noun Fabric or a garment dyed in splotches of green, brown, and tan, used for camouflage in certain environments.
  • intransitive verb To conceal by the use of camouflage.
  • intransitive verb To conceal, usually through misrepresentation or other artifice: synonym: disguise.
  • intransitive verb To use camouflage for concealment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A disguise or covering up.
  • noun The act of disguising.
  • noun textiles A pattern on clothing consisting of irregularly shaped patches that are either greenish/brownish, brownish/whitish, or bluish/whitish, as used by ground combat forces.
  • noun biology Resemblance of an organism to its surroundings for avoiding detection
  • noun Clothes made from camouflage fabric, for concealment in combat or hunting.
  • verb To hide or disguise something by covering it up or changing the way it looks.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of concealing the identity of something by modifying its appearance
  • noun fabric dyed with splotches of green and brown and black and tan; intended to make the wearer of a garment made of this fabric hard to distinguish from the background
  • noun device or stratagem for concealment or deceit
  • verb disguise by camouflaging; exploit the natural surroundings to disguise something
  • noun an outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from camoufler, to disguise, alteration (influenced by camouflet, snub, smoke blown in one's face) of Italian camuffare.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French camouflage, from camoufler ("to veil, disguise"), alteration (due to camouflet "smoke blown in one's face") of Italian camuffare ("to muffle the head"), from ca- (from Italian capo "head") + muffare ("to muffle"), from Medieval Latin muffula, muffla ("muff"), from Frankish *molfell (“soft garment made of hide”) from *mol (“softened, forworn”) (akin to Old High German molawēn "to soften", Middle High German molwic "soft") + *fell (“hide, skin”), from Proto-Germanic *fellan (“skin, film, fleece”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel(e)(w)-, *plē(w)- (“skin, hide”). Akin to Old High German fel ("fell, skin, hide"), Old English fell ("fell, skin, hide"). Alternate etymology traces the Italian and Medieval Latin words to Middle High German mouwe, mōwe ("sleeve") (German Muff "muff", Dutch mouw "sleeve") from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“sleeve”) + fell "skin". More at mulch, fell.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Colonel Gathersoles, O.B.E., was a warrior with his country's colours blazoned all over his face. He had red veins down his nose, a white moustache, and mild blue eyes. The mildness was nature's camouflage. -- ''Yashima, or, The Gorgeous West'' by R T Sherwood, 1931.

    December 24, 2008

  • JM can’t find his camouflage gear.

    July 4, 2011

  • Some good animal examples, and not chameleons!

    January 22, 2013