ANTIMACASSAR, a protective covering thrown over the back of a chair or the head or cushions of a sofa, named from Macassar, a hair-oil in general use in the 19th century. The original antimacassars were made of stiff, white crochet-work, but later soft coloured materials, embroidered in wools or silks, were used. In the loth century the use of antimacassars which, in better class homes, at least, had died out, was revived in the form of strips of elaborately patterned lace.