cotta

[kot-uh, kaw-tuh]

noun Ecclesiastical.

a surplice.

a short surplice, sleeveless or with short sleeves, worn especially by choristers.

Origin of cotta

1840–50; < Medieval Latin, variant of cota kind of tunic. See coat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cotta

Cotta appeared on board a golden galley hung with purple, and followed by all his fleet.
Thais|Anatole France
Cotta and the centurions of the first class earnestly maintained the contrary opinion.
History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2|Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, 1808-1873.
Cujus opinionis levitas confutata a Cotta non desiderat orationem meam.
Dderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes|Ludwig Dderlein
There were also younger poets, not yet published, whom he will not name, with the necessary exception of Cotta Maximus (39-44).
The Last Poems of Ovid|Ovid

Cotta, it will be remembered, was a physician at Northampton.
A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718|Wallace Notestein

British Dictionary definitions for cotta

cotta

noun

RC Church a short form of surplice

Word Origin for cotta

C19: from Italian: tunic, from Medieval Latin; see coat

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012