Anciently, a chrisom was the face-cloth, or piece of linen laid over a child's head when he was baptized or christened. The term has come to refer to a child who died within a month after its baptism—so called for the chrisom cloth that was used as a shroud for it. Baptism in early Christian art. ... A shroud is typically something, usually a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. ...

References

• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
• Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)