Geneva bands

American  

plural noun

1. two bands or pendent stripes made usually of white lawn and worn at the throat as part of clerical garb, originally by the Swiss Calvinist clergy.

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Geneva bands British  

plural noun

1. a pair of white lawn or linen strips hanging from the front of the neck or collar of some ecclesiastical and academic robes

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Etymology

Origin of Geneva bands

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The boy's first years were past amidst Geneva bands, heads of lank hair, upturned eyes, nasal psalmody, and sermons three hours long.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

He wore a gown and large Geneva bands, like a Presbyterian minister; on his head he had a kind of biretta.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 4 by Mabie, Hamilton Wright

Ma," she said in Italian, "it would seem that these gentry of the Geneva bands have not wit enough to apply to me!—On my honor, I cannot go to meet them!

From The Works of Honor? de Balzac About Catherine de' Medici, Seraphita and Other Stories by Balzac, Honor? de