surplice

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English[edit]

A man in a surplice (white)

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Middle English surplys, from Old French surpeliz, from Medieval Latin superpelliceum, from Latin super (“over”) and pellis (“fur”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

surplice (plural surplices)

  1. A liturgical vestment of the Christian Church in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton material, with wide or moderately wide sleeves, reaching to the hips or knees, usually featuring lace decoration and embroidered bordures.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter III, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
      On the previous night he had taken the manuscript out of a long neglected chest, containing old shooting jackets, old Oxbridge scribbling books, his old surplice, and battered cap and gown, and other memorials of youth, school, and home.
    • 1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 40:
      Beneath an old ebony table were two long carved oak chests. I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a once-white surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts — Commonwealth Quartos, unbound — a prey to worms and decay.
    • 1942, Emily Carr, “The Blessing”, in The Book of Small:
      He was a wide man and looked wider in his surplice, especially from our pew, which was close up under the pulpit.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

surplice

  1. Alternative form of surplys
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