rochet

American  

[roch-it] / ˈrɒtʃ ɪt /

noun

1. a vestment of linen or lawn, resembling a surplice, worn especially by bishops and abbots.

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rochet British  

/ ˈrɒtʃɪt /

noun

1. a white surplice with tight sleeves, worn by bishops, abbots, and certain other Church dignitaries

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Etymology

Origin of rochet

1350–1400; Middle English < Old French: outer garment < Germanic; compare Old English rocc outer garment

Example Sentences

For the official ceremony, the new cardinals are expected to wear a red silk cassock topped with a white lace rochet and a short red cape over that.

From Washington Post • Feb. 7, 2014

Last came the ample habit-coat of heavy cloth, topped by a linen rochet and a stiffly starched barbette of cambric .

From Time Magazine Archive

Dr. Stires, who entered the church wearing cassock and rochet, had stood humbly before the carved reredos while his attending presbyters garbed him in a chimere.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Archbishop had his rochet on, with Hereford; and the suffragan of Bedford, Chichester, wore a silk cope; and Coverdale a plain cloth gown down to his ancles.

From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall

The word “chimere,” which first appears in England in the 14th century, was sometimes applied not only to the tabard worn over the rochet, but to the sleeved cassock worn under it.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various