[? phonetic corruption of barm-fell leather apron: see BARM sb.1 3.] A kind of leather apron.
1878. Halliwell, Barvel, a short leathern apron worn by washerwomen; a slabbering bib. Kent.
1883. Chamb. Jrnl., 271/2. The man on the right, dressed in a ‘petticoat barvel,’ is ‘cutting away,” [the fish].
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 217. Petticoat Barvell. Barvell or Apron … Common Barvell.
