ˈriding-habit
[riding vbl. n.]
A dress or costume used for riding; now spec. a riding-dress worn by ladies, consisting of a cloth skirt worn with a double-breasted tight-fitting jacket.
| 1666 Evelyn Diary 13 Sept., The Queene was now in her cavalier riding habite, hat and feather, and horseman's coate. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode i. i, Enter Palamede in a riding habit. 1731 Gentl. Mag. I. 289 The riding habit singly, with the black velvet cap and white feather, is, he thinks, the most elegant dress that belongs to the ladies' wardrobe. 1752 C. Lennox Female Quix. iv. iv, Her shape being as perfect as any shape could possibly be, her riding-habit discovered all its beauties. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xxiv, A gentleman, plainly dressed in a riding⁓habit,..walked into the apartment. 1866 Ballantyne Shifting Winds vi, My pretty niece..in that most fascinating of all dresses, a riding-habit. 1874 Burnand My Time 102 Most women appear to advantage in a riding-habit. |
| attrib. 1892 Gunter Miss Dividends (1893) 164 In a cool, gray linen travelling costume, that fits her charming figure with a ‘riding habit’ fit. |