Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural doi·lies.
- any small, ornamental mat, as of embroidery or lace.
- Archaic. a small napkin, as one used during a dessert course.
noun plural -lies or -leys
- a decorative mat of lace or lacelike paper, etc, laid on or under plates
1714, short for doily-napkin (1711), from doily “thin, woolen fabric;” supposedly from Doiley, surname of a 17c.-early 18c. dry-goods dealer on London’s Strand. Doily earlier meant “genteel, affordable woolens” (1670s), evidently from the same source. The surname is d’Ouilly, from one of several places called Ouilly in Normandy.