partlet

American  

[pahrt-lit] / ˈpɑrt lɪt /

noun

1. a garment for the neck and shoulders, usually ruffled and having a collar, worn in the 16th century.

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partlet British  

/ ˈpɑːtlɪt /

noun

1. a woman's garment covering the neck and shoulders, worn esp during the 16th century

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Etymology

Origin of partlet

1510–20; unexplained variant of late Middle English patelet < Middle French patelette strip of cloth, band, literally, little paw, equivalent to Old French pate paw + -lete -let

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

partlet

The pinched partlet made a fine undergarment for the slashed doublet.

From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle

Old Baucis stared a moment, Then tossed poor partlet on the green, And with a tone half jest, half spleen, Thus made her housewife's comment: 12.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 91, May, 1865 by Various

“There’s your new partlet, and Pen’s Sunday gown.”

From All's Well Alice's Victory by M. Lewin

And also she hath not one good partlet to put upon her neck, nor but one good coif to put upon her head.

From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Eileen Power

An old dictionary explains that the partlet can be "set on or taken off by itself without taking off the bodice, as can be pickadillies now-a-days, or men's bands."

From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle