Entry · catalog no. 7001
draped down
/ /dreɪpt daʊn/ /DRAYPT-down
phrase · Harlem, New York · 1940s
✓ Verified
1.
Dressed to the peak of fashion; wearing the sharpest clothes with intent and pride.
“Every Sunday he came draped down — hat tilted, shoes shining, not a wrinkle on him.”
Origin & Attribution
Harlem, 1930s and 40s. Zora Neale Hurston set it down in her 1942 Glossary of Harlem Slang as "dressed in the height of Harlem fashion." It belongs to the same tradition of Black sartorial pride as togged to the bricks and, later, fresh, fly, and fitted.
1942
Recorded in Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
Harlem, New York · 1940s
Spoken by
Harlem speakers of the swing era
$DRAPEDThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Faded84 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
20/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1942
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@bxgriot
The Bronx, NY
@phillyanne
Philadelphia, PA
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Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a sourceZora Neale Hurston, Story in Harlem Slang glossary, The American Mercury
1942
See also