Also 8 dial. west. [a. F. veste, a. It. veste (also vesta) robe, gown:—L. vestem, vestis garment, attire, clothing, cognate with Gr. ἐσθής, Skr. vastra. Cf. Sp. veste garment, + vesta vest, Pg. veste garment, vestia vest.]
1. A loose outer garment worn by men in Eastern countries or in ancient times; a robe or gown.
1613. Sherley, Trav. Persia, 20. We were forced to send his maister three verstes [sic] of cloth of gold, for beholding his person.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 146. Their [Persians’] out Garment or Vest is commonly of Callico quilted with Cotton. Ibid. (1665), (1677), 131. Artaxerxes the Great gave Mithridates … a Gown or Vest of gold which he wore during a Royal banquet.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 85. The Persians make their long vests of such cloths.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., I. vi. 63. Lucullus … being ask’d to furnish for a Play An hundred martial Vests.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., I. 555. Putting off his vest Of softest texture.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, XI. xiv. A hermit’s vest Concealed his face.
1838. Arnold, Hist. Rome, I. 215. Kaeso then put on his vest, such as the Roman generals were used to wear in battle.
1842. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. II. Fragment. The slanting ray of the evening sun shone … With fitful light on regal vest, and warrior’s sculptured mail.
transf. 1643. Davenant, Unfort. Lovers, I. i. Not in his Perfume and Silks; but in his Iron Vest.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, i. § 3. If then we take a Bean and dissect it, we shall find it cloathed with a doubled Vest or Coat.
b. A similar garment worn by women. Chiefly poet.
1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., III. 193. Attended by her Maiden Train, Who bore the Vests that Holy Rites require.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess of Mar, 18 April. I found the lady sitting on her sofa, in a sable vest.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xxxvii. When my upper vest was taken off, they were apparently struck with the splendour of my clothes.
1797. Southey, Triumph Woman, 30. Thy daughters … for this high feast Weave the loose robe, and paint the flowery vest.
1801. Scott, Glenfinlas, xli. O gentle huntsman, hast thou seen … A lovely maid in vest of green? Ibid. (1810), Lady of Lake, IV. xii.
c. A garment, in various fig. uses.
1655. H. Vaughan, Silex Scint., 118. The fair woods … flourished in that youthful vest With which their great Creator had them drest.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. v. 790. The Ancient Asserters of the Souls Immortality, supposing it to have besides this Terrestrial Body another Spirituous or Airy Body … as its Interiour Vest or Tunicle.
1746. Collins, Ode Poet. Charac., 45. Truth, in sunny vest array’d.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 262. When ev’ning in her sober vest Drew the grey curtain of the fading west.
1820. Shelley, Witch Atl., Ded. v. Light the vest of flowing metre She wears.
† d. Without article. Clothing, attire. rare–1.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. 252. Our Means of Life are Pote, and Cibe, and Vest.
2. An ecclesiastical vestment, rare.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 16 Feb. A priest was taken in his vests officiating somewhere in Holborne the other day.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 17 Nov. 1644. The precious vessels of gold, silver, and gems, with the vests and services to be seene in the Sacristy.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. VIII. 222. The initiate’s vest … hung out under my cuirass.
1829. Cassan, Bps. Bath & Wells, 162. He gave also many splendid vests to the Churches of Bath and Wells.
3. a. A sleeveless garment of some length worn by men beneath the coat. (Introduced by Charles II.: see first quot.) Now Hist. b. A short garment worn beneath the coat or jacket as a usual part of male attire; a waistcoat.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 8 Oct. The King hath yesterday, in Council, declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes…. It will be a vest, I know not well how; but it is to teach the nobility thrift. Ibid., 15 Oct. This day the King begins to put on his vest;… being a long cassocke close to the body, of black cloth, and pinked with white silk under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black riband like a pigeon’s leg.
1667. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 300. I doubt the old fellow must have a new vest and tunick.
1668. Etheredge, She wou’d if She cou’d, III. iii. You are not To learn … how absolutely necessary A rich Vest and a Perruque are to a man that aims At their favours.
1712. Overseers’ Acc. Holy Cross, Canterb. Payd for mackin a west and briches for gouddins child, [£]0. 1. 6.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, v. She wore … a coat, vest, and hat, resembling those of a man.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lix. Provided with some of the most splendid vests that Calcutta could furnish.
1907. Daily News, 3 Sept., 3/2. Lightish striped cashmere trousers would not be correct … if worn with a dark blue coat and vest.
transf. 1830. Whittier, Mogg Megone, 1237. The rivets of the vest Which girds in steel his ample breast.
1863. Bates, Nat. Amazons, viii. (1864), 220. A bird resembling our starling in size … and not unlike it in colour with the exception of the rich rosy vest.
1876. Holland, Sev. Oaks, i. Among the charms that dangled from this liquid chain—depending from the vest of a landscape, which ended in a ruffle of woods.
c. A knitted or woven undergarment for the upper part of the body, worn next to the skin.
1851. Catal. Gt. Exhib., III. 583/1. Cotton,… spun silk, merino and Cashmere gentlemen’s and ladies’ vests.
1883. ‘Sylvia,’ Ladies’ Guide to Home Dressmaking & Millinery, xiii. 107 [List of under-linen]. 4 merino vests, [£]0 5 9.
d. Part of a woman’s dress bodice, consisting of a collar and front, usually of lace, net, silk or other soft material.
1887. Lady’s World, June, 256/1. Vests of spotted kersey-mere … are made with military collars and two pockets.
1913. Daily Graphic, 26 March, 12/4. The bodices having vests and collars of écru lace.
1913. Play Pictorial, No. 134. p. ii/1. It [a ‘waistcoat blouse’] has a soft net vest that ends in short sharp points.
e. attrib. and Comb., as vest-maker, -pocket; also vest-pocket voter U.S. (see quot. 1883).
1776. Caledonian Mercury, 24 Aug., 3/2. So alert was this youngster, that he had put his hand into the bottom of the gentleman’s vest pocket, and was withdrawing with his booty, before the gentleman, by accident, perceived him.
1823. Mass. Spy, 3 Dec. (Thornton). He found him asleep, took from his vest pocket the key [etc.].
1828. Webster, Vesting, cloth for vests; vest patterns.
1879. G. W. Cable, Grandissimes, xliii. I could be a confectioner, a milliner, a dressmaker, a vest-maker.
1880. Chicago Daily Tribune, 30 May, 17/5. The quiet, unassuming men who are vest-pocket voters are almost invariably opposed to Grant.
1883. in Bryce, Amer. Commw. (1888), III. V. lxxxix. 217. The class of ‘vest-pocket voters’—men who come to the polls with their tickets made up, to the confusion of ‘the boys.’
