CRAVAT, the name given by the French in the reign of Louis XIV. to the scarf worn by the Croatian soldiers enlisted in the royal Croatian regiment (Fr. cravate, a corruption of "Croat") . Made of linen or muslin with broad edges of lace, it became fashionable, and the name was applied both in England and France to various forms of neckerchief, from the loosely tied lace cravat with long flowing ends, called a "Steinkirk" after the battle of 1692, to the elaborately folded and lightly starched linen or cambric neckcloth worn in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The modern cravat is a necktie.