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

Example Sentences

The old Geneva gown covered with frogs is hardly ever seen; but the surplice would still stir up a revolution.

From The Recreations of a Country Parson by Boyd, Andrew Kennedy Hutchison

A pastor in Geneva gown and bands stood at a table head, upon which a few great folios had been heaped to form a rude pulpit.

From The White Plumes of Navarre A Romance of the Wars of Religion by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

It was a monarchy under the Geneva gown.

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

The Geneva gown supplies the grand lines lacking in the secular costume of the period, and indues the patriot with the silken cocoon of the Calvinist.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 101, May, 1876 by Various

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 Yonge, Charlotte Mary