Wiktionary

surplice

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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