tabard
Americannoun
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a loose outer garment, sleeveless or with short sleeves, especially one worn by a knight over his armor and usually emblazoned with his arms.
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an official garment of a herald, emblazoned with the arms of his master.
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a coarse, heavy, short coat, with or without sleeves, formerly worn outdoors.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tabard
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French tabart
Explanation
In the Middle Ages, men often wore a tabard, a short, sleeveless coat similar to a jerkin. Put on your tabard and tights, it's time for the Renaissance Faire! Tabards started out as modest dress, worn by monks and peasants starting in the 14th century. A hundred years later, knights began sporting belted tabards that were open at the sides and frequently emblazoned with a coat of arms. Today, an apron-like garment commonly worn by cleaners, caterers, and healthcare workers is sometimes also called a tabard. The famous starting place of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was the Tabard Inn in London.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Prince of Wales has been an undercover Big Issue seller on previous occasions, putting on the red tabard and baseball cap, and surprising tourists near Victoria in central London.
From BBC • Dec. 5, 2023
The prodigious output of those kitchens contributed to the Prince’s obesity, flatteringly disguised in the embroidered tabard and ermine-lined cape that he wore for his official coronation portrait, executed by Thomas Lawrence, in 1821.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 10, 2020
The last time anyone “donned” anything it was Prince Valiant, with a tabard, in a 1940s Hal Foster newspaper comic strip.
From The Guardian • May 26, 2019
Last year, English Heritage, custodian of many a tapestry and tabard, claimed numbers of the common clothes moth caught in its properties had doubled in five years.
From BBC • May 20, 2018
Ser Flement Brax wore a silver-and-purple tabard and the look of a man who cannot comprehend what he has just heard.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
