▪ I. vestment1
(ˈvɛstmənt)
Forms: α. 4 uestement, 4–6 westement(e, 4–6 vestement (6 festement). β. 5–6 westment, 5 vestmente, 5– vestment (7 vest'ment).
[a. AF. and OF. vestement (mod.F. vêtement), ad. L. vestīmentum: see vestiment.]
1. A garment or article of clothing, esp. one of the nature of a robe or gown; freq. an outer garment of this kind worn by a king or official either ordinarily or upon some ceremonial occasion. Also collect., clothing, dress, vesture.
Now somewhat rare or rhet.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3701 Þe odor o þi uestement It smelles als o piement. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 51 This Kambynskan..In riall vestement syt on hys deys. 1474 Caxton Chesse iv. v. (1883) 176 He is bounden to deffende and kepe them that make his vestementis & couertours necessarye vnto his body. 1489 ― Faytes of A. iv. xvii. 280 The scripture saith that the vestement of Ih[es]u Crist dide seme to his apostles white as snowe. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 374 The heraulds with thair awfull westmentis. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 94 Doe their gay vestments his affections baite? 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 288 The five principal Persons of the Retinue had each of them a satin Vestment, and another of Taffata. 1718 Prior Solomon i. 99 A fairer Red stands blushing in the Rose, Than that which on the Bridegroom's Vestment flows. 1764 Harmer Observ. vi. §23. 280 Presents of vestments..are frequently made in these countries to the great and those that are in public stations. 1771 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. IV. 2 The slightness of their vestment and the lankness of their hair. 1790 Cowper Odyss. vi. 313 Her charge Of folded vestments neat the Princess placed Within the royal wain. 1826 Lamb Elia ii. Wedding, She stood at the altar in vestments white and candid as her thoughts. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 381 Their clothes saturated with the freezing water of the floes, these iron men..did not strip themselves naked..and hang up their vestments in the air to dry. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 497 Remembering to warn [the patient] against heated rooms,..stewing in bed, and any possible irritation by vestments. |
2. A garment worn by a priest or ecclesiastic on the occasion of some service or ceremony; a priestly robe. † In early use also collect., a set of these.
| 13.. K. Alis. 1560 (Laud MS.), Þe Bisshop.. dude hym on a vestement, And made..To jubiter sacrifise. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. 1898 Hee [a priest of Jupiter] tuggit wiþe his teythe in taggis His westment rewyn al in raggis. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1183 To my awter I wyll me dresse; On xall my westment and myn aray. 1560 Bible (Genev.) 2 Kings x. 22 Bring forthe vestements for all the seruants of Baal. And he broght them out vestements. 1598 J. Howson Serm. 21 May 35 Thimelicus, a dauncer, had bought by chaunce some holy vestement, and abused it publickly in the open theater. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxvi. 228 The High Priests..put on the holy vestments, and enquired of the Lord [etc.]. 1737 Whiston tr. Josephus, Antiq. iii. vii. §2 Over this he [the priest] wore a linen vestment, made of fine flax doubled. Ibid., This vestment reaches down to the feet, and sits close to the body. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 659 The surplice, a vestment of the Pagan Priests, introduced into churches. 1843 Prescott Mexico vi. v. (1864) 371 A few priests, clad in their usual wild and blood-stained vestments, were to be seen. 1868 Marriott Vest. Chr. Introd. p. v, The attempt..to trace out in detail a correspondence between the ‘eight vestments’ of the Jewish high-priest, and those of Christian ministry. |
b. An article of attire worn by the clergy of various branches of the Christian church, or by certain of their assistants, during divine service or on some special occasion; spec. one or other of those worn by the priest or priests at the celebration of the Eucharist; esp. the chasuble.
In early use perh. sometimes (like med.L. vestimentum) employed in the collective sense of ‘a set of vestments’.
| α 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4675 Ȝyf prest or clerk lene vestement Þat halwed ys þurgh sacrament. 1340 Ayenb. 41 Þe crouchen, þe calices, þe creyme, þe corporeaus, þe yblissede uestemens. c 1400 Plowman's Tale xxix. in Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 311 They halow no thing but for hire, Church, ne font, ne vestement. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 140 Thys was þe fyrst man þat euer song masse yn vestementys, as prestes now doþe. 1493–4 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 199 Payd to mastyr parson for halowyng of the westementes, xij d. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Holy Commun., The Priest..shall put upon hym..a white Albe plain, with a vestement or Cope. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 35 Item iij vestements—sold to Christopher Baudwine in anno 1565 who hathe put them to prophane vse. |
| β c 1440 Promp. Parv. 509/1 Vestment.., vestimentum. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vii. (1885) 125 Often tymes he [the king] woll bie riche hangynges and other apparell for his howses; vessaill, vestmentes, and oþer ornamentes for his chapell. 1509 Will in Archaeologia LXVI. 312 A payre of Vestmentes of Whit clothe of gold of Tissue. 1531 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 23, Item, I will that a vestment be maide..of my damaske gowne. 1580 Parsons in Relig. Pamphlets (1898) 166 For this Sacrifice was Preistes apparell made: Vestments, Sensors, Frankensence, and the lyke. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xi. xiv, In costly vestments sacred William dight, With fear and trembling to the altar went. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 82, I shall not here spend time in describing their way of celebrating Mass,..nor shall I speak of their Sacerdotal Vestments. 1782 in J. H. Harting Hist. Sardin. Chapel (1905) 25 Priest's vestment, two dalmatics to correspond, with maniples and stoles [etc.]. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xvi, Your years, old man, and those sacred vestments protect you. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxv, Another churchman in his vestments bore a holy-water sprinkler. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. xlix. 59 He had kept his surplice in his own room, and had gone down in his vestment. 1881 A. O'Shaughnessy Christ will Return, Songs of Worker 10 And where, 'mid all the glory Of vestments rich, are Joseph's working coat And Mary's rags? |
3. transf. and fig. Something which covers as a garment; a covering.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 118/2 Ryght so the majeste of god hydde the lyght of hys dyuynyte by a carnal vestement whyche he toke of our nature humayne. 1620 Quarles Jonah 1300 Their nakednesse with sackcloth let them hide, And mue the vest'ments of their silken pride. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 40 The verdure..that is generally the beauteous vestment of all vegetables. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 146 This hidden spirit..putting on new shapes according to the mineral vestment wherewith he is cloathed. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 84 Green,..which colour nature hath chosen for the vestment of the earth. 1836 Emerson Nature, Lang. Wks. (Bohn) II. 152 A material image..arises in his mind, contemporaneous with every thought, which furnishes the vestment of the thought. 1842 W. A. Butler Serm. Ser. i. x. (1849) 172 His perpetuated humanity is, then, in heaven,..the vestment of the divine priesthood. |
4. Comb. in vestment-maker.
Freq. in 15th and early 16th c. accounts.
| 1405 Close Roll, 6 Hen. IV, b, Johannes Est, vestment makere. 1477–9 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 80 Item, paid to a vestment-maker for the mendyng of the Blak Copes. 1530 Palsgr. 284/2 Vestmentmaker, chasublier. 1537–8 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 378 Paid to a vestment maker for xxvij dayes labour. |
▪ II. ˈvestment2 rare—1.
[f. vest v. Cf. investment.]
A right or privilege with which a person or body is invested or endowed.
| 1795 J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navig. Add. 149 It is enacted, that they be one body politic and corporate, by the name of ‘The Company of Proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation’, with all customary powers, vestments, &c. |