Definition of "ihram" [‖Ih•ram]

• Islam The sacred dress of Muslim pilgrims, consisting of two lengths of white cotton, one wrapped around the loins, the other thrown over the left shoulder. (noun)
• Islam The state of ritual purity of Muslims in wearing this dress for pilgrimage or for other acts of worship, especially the daily worship. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "His first care was to dress himself in accordance with the law prescribed for the faithful who enter Mecca -- in the "ihram," or pieces of cloth without seam, one covering the loins, the other thrown over the neck and shoulders."
• "The white seamless garb of the pilgrims, called "ihram," symbolizes purity and equality of mankind and erases all signs of class and culture."
• "However, one way in which gender distinctions remain is that men don the ihram, the white unstitched pilgrim's garb, while women are freer to wear other forms of modest clothing, including colorful national or cultural dresses."