Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long cloak or outer robe, usually of fur or with a fur lining.
  • noun A woman's loose light cloak, often with openings for the arms.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Originally, a long garment of fur; hence, a garment lined or trimmed with fur.
  • noun A long cloak of silk or other material, with sleeves, and with or without fur, worn by women.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An outer garment for men or women, originally of fur, or lined with fur; a lady's or child's long outer garment, made of silk or other fabric.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fur-lined or fur robe or gown, especially as part of a uniform.
  • noun historical A silk gown formerly worn by women, often lined or trimmed with fur.
  • noun An overgarment worn by Victorian children when outside.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a sleeveless cape that is lined or trimmed with fur

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French pelice, from Late Latin pellīcia, from Latin, feminine of pellīcius, made of skin, from pellis, skin; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, from Latin pellis ("skin"), from Ancient Greek πέλλα (pella, "skin").

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Examples

  • The good carriers rubbed it with snow, and took every possible care of her; but they said it was impossible to take her on without a sheepskin pelisse, since otherwise her death from the increasing cold was certain.

    A Book of Golden Deeds 1864

  • In those days the Hussar regiments still wore over the left shoulder that attractive attachment, or frilled half-coat, hanging loosely behind like the wounded wing of a bird, which was called the pelisse, though it was known among the troopers themselves as a

    A Changed Man 2006

  • His face was covered with wrinkles, his hair was perfectly white; but the pelisse was the same as ever.

    How the Two Ivans Quarrelled 2003

  • His face was covered with wrinkles, his hair was perfectly white; but the pelisse was the same as ever.

    Taras Bulba and Other Tales 1952

  • In those days the Hussar regiments still wore over the left shoulder that attractive attachment, or frilled half-coat, hanging loosely behind like the wounded wing of a bird, which was called the pelisse, though it was known among the troopers themselves as a 'sling-jacket.'

    A Changed Man; and other tales Thomas Hardy 1884

  • 'This is the second winter,' he writes to his brother in 1810, 'that I have gone through without a pelisse, which is exactly like going without a shirt at Cagliari.

    Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3) Essay 4: Joseph de Maistre John Morley 1880

  • His face was covered with wrinkles, his hair was perfectly white; but the pelisse was the same as ever.

    Taras Bulba and Other Tales Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol 1830

  • Many men, however, and nearly all the women, wear the _kaross_, a kind of pelisse of skins sewn together, which is used at night as a wrap.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

  • By this time the carriage had halted at the door of the hotel, and, the door being opened, and the steps lowered, there alighted from it a tall man attired in a kind of pelisse, or cloak, trimmed with rich fur, the body of it being composed of velvet.

    Varney the vampire; or, The feast of blood. Volume 2 1847

  • When she faces him again, the pelisse is fastened around her throat, enshrining her form like a web of light.

    Rachel Cusk | Portraits 2011

Comments

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  • "In babylinen and pelisse, bigheaded, with a caul of dark hair, fixes big eyes on her fluid slip and counts its bronze buckles with a chubby finger, his moist tongue tolling and lisping." Joyce, Ulysses, 15

    January 1, 2008

  • "...and Sophie was to buy herself a new pelisse, a fine new tippet..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 297

    February 14, 2008

  • "'He pranced about, keeping a stable of race-horses and entertaining like a lord-lieutenant and covering his wife with diamonds and taffeta mantuas...'

    "'Taffeta mantuas, Captain Goole?' cried his wife.

    "'Well, expensive garments. Paduasoy—Indian muslin—silk: all that kind of thing. And a fur pelisse.'

    "'How I should love some diamonds and a fur pelisse,' said Mrs Goole, but not aloud: and she conceived a rather favourable opinion of Captain Aubrey."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Reverse of the Medal, 12

    February 24, 2008

  • Usage on poshteen.

    May 18, 2010