vesture, n.
(ˈvɛstjʊə(r))
Also 5 vestoure, wester (9 dial. vester), 6–7 vestur.
[a. AF. and OF. vesture (mod.F. vêture), f. vestir vest v. Cf. med.L. and It. vestura.]
I. 1. That with which a person is clothed or dressed: a. With a or pl. An article of apparel or clothing; a garment or vestment.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1288 Wyth alle þe coyntyse þat he [i.e. Solomon] cowþe clene to wyrke Deuised he þe vesselment, þe vestures clene. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 235 Alle and euery man Of hem..Had on him throwen a vesture, Whiche that men clepen a cote armure. a 1400–50 Alexander 1539 (Ashm.), And sithen he castis on a Cape of kastand hewes,..A vestoure to vise on of violet floures. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. 558 Fyre was put to the vesturis of the disguysers. c 1550 Disc. Common Weal Eng. ii. (1893) 75, I haue hearde vestures weare made only of gold then. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 113 A certeyne Kynge made towarde theym appareled with vestures of gossampine cotton. 1611 Bible Gen. xli. 42 Pharaoh..arayed him in vestures of fine linnen. 1643 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea xi. (1652) 344 It anathematizes all those that shall judge one vesture, one garment more holy then another. 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 214 Clothed with never-fading vestures. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh v. 322 The whirling white Of choral vestures. 1871 Longfellow Wayside Inn ii. Leg. Beautiful 17 And he saw the Blessed Vision Of our Lord, with light Elysian Like a vesture wrapped about him. |
b. collect. Apparel, clothing, garb, raiment.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2691 (Hypermnestra), I am a mayde,..And be my semblant, and by my vesture, Myn handes ben nat shapen for a knyfe. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 23 Aren non nudful bote þo þre [things]... The ferst of þo ys fode, and vesture þe secounde. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 347 A knyȝhte..clothede also with regalle vesture, as if he hade bene the kynge. a 1475 Ashby Active Policy 535 Lete nat the pouer Comyns be dysguised Nee haue precious clothe in theire Vesture. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxx. 283 The kyng of Cypre holpe them to complayne the dethe of the kyng,..and..clothed hymselfe with the vesture of doloure. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxi. 18 They haue parted my garmentes amonge them, and cast lottes vpon my vesture. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 13 They adorned Magdalene..in roiall and princely vesture. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 200 Kinde Soules, what weepe you, when you but behold Our Cæsars Vesture wounded? 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. iii. Wks. 1851 V. 132 The Abbots Coap, which he had thrown over them, thinking by the reverence of his vesture to have withheld the murderer. 1790 Cowper Receipt Mother's Pict. 75 Could time..restore the hours, When, playing with thy vesture's tissued flowers,..I prick'd them into paper with a pin. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xxxv, Her graceful vesture swept the ground. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 305 Seers wrapped themselves up in bulls' hides, and awaited, in that vesture, the inspiration which was to reveal the future. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh i. 887 The rustling of your vesture through my dreams. |
| attrib. a 1743 Savage Progr. Divine Wks. 1775 II. 119 To tear off rings,..To part 'em, for the vesture-shroud cast lots. |
c. transf. and
fig. (Freq. in the 19th c.)
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 8 For there all shall be clothed with the vesture of immortalite & garment of glory. 1575–85 Abp. Sandys Serm. (Parker Soc.) 208 To clothe ourselves with the comely vesture of innocency. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 26 Would'st thou have us sluts, and never shift the vestur of our thoughts? 1653 J. Hall Paradoxes 76 The strongest and most handsome Animalls are satisfied in their owne naturall Vestures. 1727 Dyer Grongar Hill 99 Thus is nature's vesture wrought. 1738 Glover Leonidas i. 271 The moon through all the dreary vapour spreads The radiant vesture of her silver light. 1768 Johnson in Johnsoniana (1836) 438 When a nation..acquires new ideas, it must necessarily have a suitable vesture for them. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. I. xii. (1877) 223 The golden clusters of the Syrian vine,..so beautiful a vesture of the bare hills of Palestine. 1867 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. iii. (1870) 45 Nature as a whole was meant to be for man the vesture of the spiritual world. |
d. Conch. (See
quot.)
rare—0.
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 32 Vesture, the inner covering of a shell that first appears upon removing the epidermis. |
2. Law. All that grows upon or covers the land, with the exception of trees; one or other of the products of land, such as grass or corn.
| 1455 Rolls of Parlt. V. 305/1, xl acres of Wode, and the Vesture of the same, in our Forest. 1467–8 Ibid. V. 575/2 The vesture of Grasse and Cornes therof. 1523 Fitzherbert Surv. v, It is to be enquered of parkes..howe many acres ar conteyned in them, and for how moche the vesture of euery acre may be sold. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 105 He which hath the Vesture or Herbage of grounds..may be charged to the repairs. 1630 Capt. Smith Advt. Planters 25 The best [ground] is ever knowne by the greatnesse of the trees and the vesture it beareth. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 210 It is requisite that the party have a lease and possession of the vesture and herbage of the land. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1217 Where plaintiff is intitled to the vesture of land, that is, corn, grass, underwood, and the like. 1869 Austin's Jurispr. (ed. 3) II. 881 In English Law it has been held that one person may have a freehold in the soil and another in the vesture. 1885 Law Times Rep. LII. 572/2 Certain hay, straw, and other vestures which have arisen on the said farm. |
II. † 3. The investiture of a person as a novice in a religious order.
Obs.—1| 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 184 The two youngest, designated to the monastery, were yet farr from the age not only of profession but of vesture. |
† 4. Law. (See
quot. and
investure.)
Obs.—0| 1607 Cowell Interpr., Vesture,..in the vse of our common lawe, [is] turned metaphorically to betoken a possession, or an admittance to a possession. |
Hence
ˈvesture v. trans., to array in a vesture or vestments.
rare.
| 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 309 That he shuld bee honorably receaued and vestured with silke. |