privy coat

American  

noun

1. a mail shirt worn under ordinary clothing as a defense against swords or daggers.

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Etymology

Origin of privy coat

First recorded in 1525–35

Example Sentences

Mistake me not; I understand not by valour one that never fights but when he is backed with drink or anger, or hissed on with beholders, nor one that is desperate, nor one that takes away a serving-man's weapons when perchance it cost him his quarter's wages, nor yet one that wears a privy coat of defence and therein is confident, for then such as made bucklers would be counted the Catilines of the commonwealth.

From Project Gutenberg