Definitions

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

  • noun A short, heavy cape of coarse cloth formerly worn outdoors.
  • noun A tunic or capelike garment worn by a knight over his armor and emblazoned with his coat of arms.
  • noun A similar garment worn by a herald and bearing his lord's coat of arms.
  • noun An embroidered pennant attached to a trumpet.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cloak of rough and heavy material, formerly worn by persons whose business led them to much exposure. The French tabard is described as being of serge. It was worn by the poorest classes of the populace.
  • noun A loose outer garment without sleeves, or with short sleeves, worn by knights over their armor, generally but not always embroidered with the arms of the wearer, called cote-armour by Chaucer. Also called tabard of arms.
  • noun A sort of coat without sleeves, or with short sleeves, worn by heralds and pursuivants, emblazoned with the arms of their sovereign, and considered as their distinctive garment.

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

  • noun A sort of tunic or mantle formerly worn for protection from the weather. When worn over the armor it was commonly emblazoned with the arms of the wearer, and from this the name was given to the garment adopted for heralds.

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

  • noun A silk banner attached to a bugle or trumpet.
  • noun A woman's or girl's sleeveless jerkin or loose overgarment.
  • noun obsolete A sleeveless garment made of coarse cloth formerly worn outdoors by the common people.
  • noun obsolete A cape or tunic worn by a knight, emblazoned with the coat of arms of his king or queen on the front.
  • noun obsolete A similar garment officially worn by a herald and emblazoned with his sovereign's coat of arms.

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

  • noun a short sleeveless outer tunic emblazoned with a coat of arms; worn by a knight over his armor or by a herald

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French tabart or Old Spanish tabardo.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French tabart

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Examples

  • Over it the tabard was a bright splash of colour, the striking hippogriff of Marimme's crest picked out in bright scarlet with touches of gold, prancing over a curve of blue-green representing the sea.

    Year of the Unicorn Norton, Andre 1965

  • I was gonna look up "tabard", but then I decided to look up "modest".

    Elayne Boosler: Fur Is Back 2008

  • She wore a simple short-sleeved dress, with a kind of tabard that covered most of it.

    Consultant Care Wirdnam, Sharon 1996

  • Roger Livesey's voice flapjack saying the word 'tabard'

    Word Magazine - Comments 2008

  • On the other hand, I am my own fire steward with the flourescent tabard to prove it and I have an accident book!

    You Heard It Here First (Bulbgate) « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • Try my work gear – thermal underwear, trousers and long sleeved top, jumper, fleece (without a risk assessment!) waxed boiler suit, whacking great steel toe-capped boots, hard hat, fluorescent tabard, head torch and clip-board.

    And for my next trick……. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • "Every metal fan would have to choose their backpatch carefully," says Ken McCormick, whose patch-encrusted tabard takes pride of place in Home Of Metal.

    Home Of Metal: a history of the heavy in seven objects 2011

  • A happier story is Amy Childs from The Only Way Is Essex, the nation's newest booby sweetheart, a chirpy Essex sparrow, famed for standing about in a beautician's tabard saying "Shat ahp!" and having a fey sidekick cousin called Harry who boasts the intellectual prowess of a damp stack of Grattan catalogues.

    Celebrity Big Brother: Grace Dent's TV OD 2011

  • Beater Brown has done several hundred hours of community service, but he should have done it with I HIT A WOMAN on his tabard.

    Bidisha's thought for the day: Rihanna 2011

  • He was preceded by Black Rod, Garter King of Arms, girt in an Alice in Wonderland tabard, festooned with harps and other armorial devices.

    The peerless John Prescott takes his place in House Of Lords 2010

Comments

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  • From "Au Tombeau de Charles Fourier" by Guy Davenport

    January 19, 2010