Antimacassar

a small covering, usually ornamental, placed on the backs and arms of upholstered furniture to prevent wear or soiling; a tidy.
Historical Examples

The antimacassar is the one indispensable article in the establishment.
Faces in the Fire Frank W. Boreham

Oh, yes, in that corner, decently covered with an antimacassar.
Red Rose and Tiger Lily L. T. Meade

I declare to my antimacassar if you took up a straw from the bloody floor and if you said to Bloom: Look at, Bloom.
Ulysses James Joyce

So she laid the doll on the sofa, and covered it with an antimacassar, to sleep.
Sons and Lovers David Herbert Lawrence

And what on earth is the good of an antimacassar, I should like to know?
Faces in the Fire Frank W. Boreham

He wrenched an antimacassar from a chair and used it as a gag.
High Noon Anonymous

A moment later he and I were back in the front room, where the impassive lady was still quietly working away at her antimacassar.
The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 25, January 1893 Various

Not only given it to her, but fastened it in the antimacassar.
Wild Margaret Geraldine Fleming

Mrs Machin, in a shawl and an antimacassar over the shawl, sat close to the fire and leaning towards it.
The Card, A Story Of Adventure In The Five Towns Arnold Bennett

The “antimacassar” is a remaining sign of the overlap of dress and manners.
Needlework As Art Marian Alford

noun
a cloth covering the back and arms of chairs, etc, to prevent soiling or as decoration