praetexta

American  

[pree-tek-stuh] / priˈtɛk stə /

Or pretexta

noun

praetextae plural

1. (in ancient Rome) a white toga with a broad purple border, worn by priests and magistrates as an official costume, and by certain other Romans as ceremonial dress.

2. a similar garment worn by a boy until he assumed the toga virilis, or by a girl until she married.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• praetextae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of praetexta

1595–1605; < Latin, short for toga praetexta literally, bordered toga. See pretext

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

praetexta

Its chief interest lies in the fact that it is the one surviving example of a fabula praetexta, or tragedy, drawn from Roman life.

From Post-Augustan Poetry From Seneca to Juvenal by Butler, Harold Edgeworth

That the praetexta had a quasi-sacred character seems certain; see e.g.

From Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero by Fowler, W. Warde

Without regret we passed Fundi, where Aufidius Luscus was praetor, laughing at the honors of that crazy scribe, his praetexta, laticlave, and pan of incense.

From The Works of Horace by Horace

The tragic actors wore the crepida, corresponding to the cothurnus, and a heavy toga, which in the praetexta had the purple border giving its name to the species.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various

We know of but twelve tragedies and one praetexta by him.

From The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius by Cruttwell, Charles Thomas