Geneva gown

American  

noun

1. a loose, large-sleeved, black preaching gown worn by members of the Protestant clergy: so named from its use by the Calvinist clergy of Geneva, Switzerland.

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Geneva gown British  

noun

1. a long loose black gown with very wide sleeves worn by academics or Protestant clerics

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Etymology

Origin of Geneva gown

First recorded in 1810–20

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Geneva gown

Frank asked if it were really so, and Mr. Bindon made the well-known explanation that the Geneva gown was neither more nor less than the monk’s frock.

From The Three Brides by Charlotte Mary Yonge

Your Geneva gown was so becoming; I do so wish our Southern ministers would adopt it.

From St. Cuthbert's by Robert E. Knowles

It was a monarchy under the Geneva gown.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847 by Various

I have a vague recollection of one Vicar of Stoneleigh still preaching in the black silk Geneva gown.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers

He was in Geneva gown, and bands—such as they were.

From Patsy by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

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