Headdress worn by women from the 12c to 14c. How much of the forehead was visible or not was for a while a measure of modesty - or immodesty: hair was removed so as to move the hair-line back. The wimple was also used by nuns until recently. Apart from its first use as a lay woman's headwear, wimple was also used as a verb meaning 'to veil'. [< G wimple = *pennon] -
Cf. Atour
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.