sb. Also 5 vestoure, wester (9 dial. vester), 6–7 vestur. [a. AF. and OF. vesture (mod.F. vêture), f. vestir VEST v. Cf. med.L. and It. vestura.]
I. 1. That with which a person is clothed or dressed: a. With a or pl. An article of apparel or clothing; a garment or vestment.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1288. Wyth alle þe coyntyse þai he [i.e., Solomon] cowþe clene to wyrke Deuised he þe vesselment, þe vestures clene.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 235. Alle and euery man Of hem … Had on him throwen a vesture, Whiche that men clepen a cote armure.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1539 (Ashm.). And sithen he castis on a Cape of kastand hewes,… A vestoure to vise on of violet floures.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 558. Fyre was put to the vesturis of the disguysers.
c. 1550. Disc. Common Weal Eng., ii. (1893), 75. I haue hearde vestures weare made only of gold then.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 113. A certeyne Kynge made toward theym appareled with vestures of gossampine cotton.
1611. Bible, Gen. xli. 42. Pharaoh … arayed him in vestures of fine linnen.
1643. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, xi (1652), 344. It anathematizes all those that shall judge one vesture, one garment more holy then another.
1827. G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 214. Clothed with never-fading vestures.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, V. 322. The whirling white Of choral vestures.
1871. Longf., Wayside Inn, II. Leg. Beautiful, 17. And he saw the Blessed Vision Of our Lord, with light Elysian Like a vesture wrapped about him.
b. collect. Apparel, clothing, garb, raiment.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2691 (Hypermnestra). I am a mayde,… And be my semblant, and by my vesture, Myn handes ben nat shapen for a knyfe.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 23. Aren non nudful bote þo þre [things]…. The ferst of þo ys fode, and vesture þe secounde.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), V. 347. A knyȝhte … clothede also with regalle vesture, as if he hade bene the kynge.
a. 1475. Ashby, Active Policy, 535. Lete nat the pouer Comyns be dysguised Nee haue precious clothe in theire Vesture.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccxx. 283. The kyng of Cypre holpe them to complayne the dethe of the kyng,… and … clothed hymselfe with the vesture of doloure.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xxi. 18. They haue parted my garmentes amonge them, and cast lottes vpon my vesture.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 13. They adorned Magdalene … in roiall and princely vesture.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. ii. 200. Kinde Soules, what weepe you, when you but behold Our Cæsars Vesture wounded?
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., III. Wks. 1851, V. 132. The Abbots Coap, which he had thrown over them, thinking by the reverence of his vesture to have withheld the murderer.
1790. Cowper, Receipt Mother’s Pict., 75. Could time … restore the hours, When, playing with thy vesture’s tissued flowers,… I prick’d them into paper with a pin.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. xxxv. Her graceful vesture swept the ground.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 305. Seers wrapped themselves up in bulls’ hides, and awaited, in that vesture, the inspiration which was to reveal the future.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, I. 887. The rustling of your vesture through my dreams.
attrib. a. 1743. Savage, Progr. Divine, Wks. 1775, II. 119. To tear off rings,… To part ’em, for the vesture-shroud cast lots.
c. transf. and fig. (Freq. in the 19th c.)
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 8. For there all shall be clothed with the vesture of immortalite & garment of glory.
1575–85. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (Parker Soc.), 208. To clothe ourselves with the comely vesture of innocency.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., II. Wks. 1856, I. 26. Would’st thou have us sluts, and never shift the vestur of our thoughts?
1653. J. Hall, Paradoxes, 76. The strongest and most handsome Animalls are satisfied in their owne naturall Vestures.
1727. Dyer, Grongar Hill, 99. Thus is nature’s vesture wrought.
1738. Glover, Leonidas, I. 271. The moon through all the dreary vapour spreads The radiant vesture of her silver light.
1768. Johnson, in Johnsoniana (1836), 438. When a nation … acquires new ideas, it must necessarily have a suitable vesture for them.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch., I. xii. (1877), 223. The golden clusters of the Syrian vine,… so beautiful a vesture of the bare hills of Palestine.
1867. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., iii. (1870), 45. Nature as a whole was meant to be for man the vesture of the spiritual world.
d. Conch. (See quot.) rare–0.
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 32. Vesture, the inner covering of a shell that first appears upon removing the epidermis.
2. Law. All that grows upon or covers the land, with the exception of trees; one or other of the products of land, such as grass or corn.
1455. Rolls of Parlt., V. 305/1. xl acres of Wode, and the Vesture of the same, in our Forest. Ibid. (1467–8), V. 575/2. The vesture of Grasse and Cornes therof.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., v. It is to be enquered of parkes … howe many acres ar conteyned in them, and for how moche the vesture of euery acre may be sold.
1622. Callis, Stat. Sewers (1647), 105. He which hath the Vesture or Herbage of grounds … may be charged to the repairs.
1630. Capt. Smith, Advt. Planters, 25. The best [ground] is ever knowne by the greatnesse of the trees and the vesture it beareth.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 210. It is requisite that the party have a lease and possession of the vesture and herbage of the land.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1217. Where plaintiff is intitled to the vesture of land, that is, corn, grass, underwood, and the like.
1869. Austin’s Jurispr. (ed. 3), II. 881. In English Law it has been held that one person may have a freehold in the soil and another in the vesture.
1885. Law Times Rep., LII. 572/2. Certain hay, straw, and other vestures which have arisen on the said farm.
II. † 3. The investiture of a person as a novice in a religions order. Obs.–1
1639. S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 184. The two youngest, designated to the monastery, were yet farr from the age not only of profession but of vesture.
† 4. Law. (See quot. and INVESTURE.) Obs.–0
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Vesture,… in the vse of our common lawe, [is] turned metaphorically to betoken a possession, or an admittance to a possession.
Hence Vesture v. trans., to array in a vesture or vestments. rare.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 309. That he shuld bee honorably receaued and vestured with silke.
