Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A cloth wound twice around the head and face, so as to leave exposed only the eyes and nose: used by the Tuaregs of the Sahara.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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But this was not the poet's only preparative measure -- another will be presently explained; and a third was to assume the dress of a Bedouin, that he might not be known, covering his face, the eyes only excepted, with a _litham_ (piece of drapery), as is usual with the Arabs of the desert.
Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers William Alexander Clouston 1869
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The principal commerce consists in native produce, viz., cotton cloth, woven and dyed here and in the neighbouring towns in the forms either of _tobes_, the oblong piece of dress of dark colour worn by the women, or plaids of various colours, and the black _litham_.
Great African Travellers From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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Highness, the _litham_ being entirely removed from his face [86].
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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Saharan traveller, having his mouth well covered with the litham, will go at least twenty-four hours longer, fasting in abstinence, whilst his lips will not be parched with thirst.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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It is also difficult to distinguish the one people from the other when they wear the litham.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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The litham shelters the eyes effectually from the hot sand grains, borne on the deadly wing of the Simoom.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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The Touarick, from his habit of wearing the litham, does not like a beard, which, indeed, could rarely be seen.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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His mouth and chin were covered with a thin blue cotton wrapper, a portion of the _litham_.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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He wore a scarlet gold-braided coat, an immense red turban, and a huge black litham, covering the upper and lower part of his face, and nearly all his features.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
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The litham is nothing more than a thin wrapper, which is first wound round the head, and then made to cover the whole of the forehead and partially the eyes, and the lower part of the face, especially the mouth.
Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 James Richardson 1828
jinglebelljosie commented on the word litham
from The Dictionary of Costumes; R. Turner Wilcox: "a sheer embroidered square folded diagonally to cover nose, mouth, and neck, the ends tied, worn by Arab women. Men also use a plain litham when the sand is blowing. see djellaba."
Basically, a cloth-face mask, similiar to what we would think of a "ninja mask".
August 18, 2008