gabardine
Americannoun
-
Also a firm, tightly woven fabric of worsted, cotton, polyester, or other fiber, with a twill weave.
noun
-
a twill-weave worsted, cotton, or spun-rayon fabric
-
an ankle-length loose coat or frock worn by men, esp by Jews, in the Middle Ages
-
any of various other garments made of gabardine, esp a child's raincoat
Etymology
Origin of gabardine
Spelling variant of gaberdine
Explanation
Gabardine is a durable, tightly woven fabric that's often used for jackets and other outerwear. Grab your gabardine raincoat — it's pouring outside! Rain jackets and windbreakers were once so commonly made of gabardine that it's still routine in the U.K. to use the word as a synonym for "raincoat." The word gabardine dates back to the 16th century, but the men's clothing maker Thomas Burberry is usually credited with inventing and naming gabardine fabric in 1879. Some experts trace the word to an ancient Indian garment, the kaba.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Functional for the outdoors, jackets are cut from cotton gabardine, wool and cashmere for warmth, while the Burberry Check is reworked in earthy colorways like sand and lichen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2024
The fashion house’s founder, Thomas Burberry, invented the fabric gabardine, a breathable material used for rainwear, in the late 1800s.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 19, 2024
Mallory and Irvine, wearing wool and gabardine, hobnailed leather boots and homemade oxygen sets, disappeared into a swirling cloud on that fateful day, never to be seen alive again.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2022
In fact, purists insist that the best versions are the stiff, gabardine PE shorts sold in John Lewis’s school uniform department for less than a tenner.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 23, 2020
His face and his gray gabardine suit both seemed to be neat and freshly pressed.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
