bleaunt

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A garment common to both sexes in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. As worn by women, it was a tunic placed over the chemise, usually with long and loose sleeves, and held by a girdle, except perhaps when a garment was worn above it. That for men was worn as an outer garment, and especially over the armor, in which case it is hard to distinguish it from the tabard, which afterward replaced it. For mounted men it was divided nearly to the girdle, to enable the rider to sit in the saddle.