gaberdine
(ˈgæbədiːn, -ˈdiːn)
Forms: 6 gawbardyne, -berdyne, gabarden, -berdin, 6–7 gabberdine, 6–9 gab(b)ardin(e, 6– gaberdine.
[The earliest forms appear to be directly a. OF. gauvardine, galvardine, gallevardine, perh. a derivative of MHG. wallevart pilgrimage (for the sense cf. pelerine); the word passed into other Rom. langs. as It. gavardina, Sp. gabardina, the latter of which has influenced the form of the Eng. word.]
1. A loose upper garment of coarse material; a smock frock.
| 1520 Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) I. 39, I bequeth unto litill Tom{supa}s Beke my gawbardyne to make hym a gowne. 1567 Drant Horace's Ep. to Mæcenas in Art Poet. C iij a, My cote is bare, my gawberdyne amis. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 40 My best way is to creepe vnder his Gaberdine. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 917 He disrob'd his Gaberdine. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xix. 397 Spread his couch..with fleecy gaberdines And rugs of splendid hue. 1859 Lang Wand. India 158 A huge pocket at the back of his chogah (a sort of gaberdine). |
b. As a garment worn by Jews, perh. orig. a reminiscence of Shakespeare's phrase.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 113 You..spet vpon my Iewish gaberdine. 1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington iii. (1832) 28 Before his eyes we paraded the effigy of a Jew, dressed in a gabardine of rags and paper. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe v, The very gaberdine I wear is borrowed from Reuben of Tadcaster. |
c. As worn by almsmen or beggars.
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism iii. 121 Scramble along..with thy pope's tiaras..and beggar's gabardine. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. v. 120 The garb of the fourteenth century is still seen in the almsman's gaberdine. 1890 F. W. Robinson Very Strange Family 17 His long blue gaberdine fluttering in the breeze. |
d. In local use, a child's loose frock or pinafore.
| Mod. (Kent), ‘If you put a good gaberdine on a child it covers everything else, and makes him look tidy.’ |
e. Freq. gabardine. spec. a variety of twill-woven cloth, usu. of fine worsted.
| 1904 Ladies' Field 14 May 426/1 Gabardine, a material of flax and cotton, with a wool lining, both gabardine and lining being waterproofed. 1908 Times (weekly ed.) 14 Aug. p. iii/2 Gabardine is a material which has many qualities not to be overlooked when it is a question of sporting dresses. 1923 G. C. Denny Fabrics 46 Gabardine or gaberdine (wool). A firm material similar to whip cord. 1938 ‘E. Queen’ Four of Hearts. (1939) xi. 153 She looked lovely..in a tailored gabardine suit. |
2. transf. and fig. Dress, covering; also (with allusion to Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 40), protection.
| 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits Ded. of Transl., Your Booke returneth vnto you clad in a Cornish Gabardine. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1847) 206/1 If his canonical gabardine of text and letter do not now sit too close about him. 1847 Ld. G. Bentinck in Croker Papers 8 Sept. (1884), They have crawled into the House of Commons under the gabardine of the Whigs. 1879 Lowell Let. 15 Jan., Lett. (1894) II. 266 There are great patches of green on the brown gaberdine of the Campiña. |
Hence ˈgaberdined ppl. a., clothed in a gaberdine.
| 1863 B. Jerrold Sign. Distr. 263 The gaberdined Jews chattered incessantly. |