praetexta

American  

[pree-tek-stuh] / priˈtɛk stə /

Or pretexta

noun

plural

praetextae

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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Etymology

Origin of praetexta

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

Example Sentences

We are told how each victim was slain; how the brethren took off the toga praetexta, their crowns and golden ears of corn, then put them on again, and examined the entrails of the sacrifices; all as minutely detailed as the rubrics of any office of unction and coronation could possibly be.

From Project Gutenberg

Each wore a wreath of corn, a white fillet and the praetexta.

From Project Gutenberg

Behind Titanus stood his young son, Carnion, a raven-haired boy of twelve, dressed in the toga praetexta, a becoming garment of white with a wide edge of purple, and suspended from his neck the bulla, a round ornament of gold, worn especially by the children of the noble.

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

Octavia, a late praetexta ascribed to Seneca, was certainly not written by him.

From Project Gutenberg