handkercher

English

Noun

handkercher (plural handkerchers)

1. Obsolete form of handkerchief.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     When your head did but ake,
     I knit my hand-kercher about your browes.