Drapes are long, heavy curtains that hang by a window, often in thick cloth that keeps the light out. Americans say drapes a lot. In Britain people usually just say curtains, and drapes can sound American or a bit fancy. Though actually, even in the US, drapes often means the heavier, more formal kind — not the thin kitchen ones. You open the drapes in the morning and close them at night. People almost always use the plural: the drapes, not a drape. The same hanging-cloth idea sits in the verb drape, to let cloth fall in folds over something.