Definition of "orphrey" [or•phrey]

• A band of elaborate embroidery decorating the front of certain ecclesiastical vestments. (noun)
• Elaborate embroidery, especially when made of gold. (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.

• "Length 148.5 cm (orphrey on back) Width 41.3 cm (width of ophrey on back at widest point)"
• "Woven silk velvet ground, with orphrey of linen embroidered with silver, silver-gilt and silks metal threads couched; silks in split stitch; glass"
• "These shields are to go on the red velvet orphrey of the red cope that I have just made the last piece of my red solemn set that I made for my ordination to the diaconate."