spencer

See also: Spencer

English

A women's spencer (sense 2).

Etymology

From the family name Spencer. The jacket is probably named after George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛnsə/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnsə(ɹ)

Noun

spencer (plural spencers)

1. (historical) A short double-breasted men's overcoat worn in the 18th and 19th centuries.
2. (historical) A short, close-fitting jacket primarily worn by women and children in the early 19th century.
   • 1799, D.D., “To the Editor”, in The Scots Magazine, volume 61, page 677:

     In order to support and illustrate this assertion, I shall commence my remarks with the spencer, which has often been attacked by satyrical and cynical writers as an absurd and original dress.

   • 1799, Sir Francis d' Ivernois, Historical and Political Survey of the Losses Sustained by ..., page 97:

     To have seen Miss Squeers now, divested of the brown beaver, the green veil, and the blue curl-papers, and arrayed in all the virgin splendor of a white frock and spencer, with a white mulsin bonnet, and an imitative damask rose in full bloom on the inside thereof;

   • 1800, “Parisian Fashions”, in The Lady's Magazine, page 254:

     Some wear the tunic of lawn, and the spencer or Turkish robe of silk.

3. (historical) A (usually woollen) vest worn by women and girls for extra warmth.
   • 1933, Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, Penguin, published 2005, page 34:

     I am seized with an angry resentment against the conventions of twenty years ago, which wrapped up my comely adolescent body in woollen combinations, black cashmere stockings, “liberty” bodice, dark stockinette knickers, flannel petticoat and often, in addition, a long-sleeved, high-necked, knitted woollen “spencer”.

4. A large loose-fitted gaffsail on a square-rigger or barque, used from the nineteenth century onwards.

French

Etymology

From English spencer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛn.sɛʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

spencer m (plural spencers)

1. spencer (garment)

Further reading

• “spencer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman despenser or Old French espensier, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to dispense, distribute; to manage”). Equivalent to spence (“buttery”) +‎ -er.

Noun

spencer (plural spencers)

1. One who works in a spence or buttery.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English spencer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɛn.t͡sɛr/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt͡sɛr
• Syllabification: spen‧cer

Noun

spencer m inan

1. spencer (garment)

Declension

Declension of spencer

	singular	plural
nominative	spencer	spencery
genitive	spencera	spencerów
dative	spencerowi	spencerom
accusative	spencer	spencery
instrumental	spencerem	spencerami
locative	spencerze	spencerach
vocative	spencerze	spencery

Further reading

• spencer in Polish dictionaries at PWN