‖ samarra1 Hist.
(səˈmærə)
Also 8 samarre.
[med.L.: see simar.]
A kind of cassock, painted with flames, etc., worn on the way to execution by persons condemned by the Inquisition to be burnt.
| 1731 Chandler tr. Limborch's Hist. Inquis. II. iv. xli. 295 They [prisoners designed for the fire] are..cloathed with the Sackcloth, or kind of Mantle, which some call the Sambenito, others the Samarra or Samaretta. 1736 ― Hist. Persec. 265 The infamous Samarre. 1841 Barham Ingold. Leg. Ser. ii. Auto-da-fé, Each clothed in a garment more frightful by far, a Smock-frock sort of gaberdine, call'd a Samarra. |