simar
(sɪˈmɑː(r))
Forms: 7– simarre, simar (7 -arr); 8– symar (9 seymar).
[ad. F. simarre, ad. It. cimarra, zimarra: cf. cymar and chimer1.]
1. = cymar 1. Also fig.
| α 1641 Ariana 201 A Persian simarre, or mantle. 1671 tr. Palafox's Conq. China xxxii. 581 Their Habit is either a certain Vest, or Simar. 1720 Pope Iliad xviii. 685 The maids in soft simars of linen drest. 1784 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1883) 128 They were wrapped in simars whiter than alabaster. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe vii, A simarre of the richest Persian silk. 1828 tr. Manzoni's Betrothed Lovers I. iv. 119 Trailing simars, broidered with work of Arabia. 1893 Cent. Mag. Aug. 640/2 The dancing girl in soft simar. |
| β 1700 Dryden Flower & Leaf 341 The ladies, dress'd in rich symars were seen Of Florence satten. 1796 Mrs. J. West Gossip's Story II. 78 A white frock altered into a Grecian symar for the occasion. 1813 Byron Giaour 1273, I saw her..shining in her white symar, As through yon pale gray cloud the star. 1831 J. Wilson Noctes Ambr. Wks. III. 328 The winter..in green symar changin afore the gratefu' gaze intil the..spring. 1886 W. Alexander S. Augustine's Holiday 217 Dark sultanas dress'd in white symars. |
2. = cymar 2,
chimer1.
| 1840 H. Ainsworth Tower of London (1864) 5 They were attired in the scarlet simar, and surplice with its snowy lawn sleeves, proper to their order. 1886 tr. Hugo's Notre Dame viii. ii, The simar had the worst of it in its collision with the cassock. |