abaya
(əˈbeɪjə)
Also abeih, abbai, abaiya, abeya, abaye, etc.
[Arab. ‘abāya.]
= aba2.
| 1836 Lane Mod. Egypt. I. i. 35 A kind of black woollen cloak, called 'abbáyeh. 1855 J. L. Porter 5 Yrs. Damascus I. iv. 195 The ample folds of an abeih. 1884 S. W. Baker Heart Africa iii. 36 (Stanford), A white cashmere abbai. 1922 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 358/1 A dazzling yellow ‘jibba’ covered by a red ‘abaiya’. 1942 F. Stark Lett. from Syria iv. 172 A man in a black 'abeya galloped past. 1946 A. Koestler Thieves in Night ii. iii. 144 Issa came in, his abaye hurriedly thrown over his underclothes. |