Also 7 sumbrero, -briero, 8 somerera (?). [Sp. sombrero (= Pg. sombreiro), f. sombra shade.]
† 1. An Oriental umbrella or parasol. Obs.
Purchas and Herbert also use the fuller expression sombrero de sol.
1598. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 258. With a great Sombrero or shadow ouer their heads … as broad as a great cart wheele.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 316. Some … hold a Sumbrero or Umbrella in their hands to lenefie the flaming Sun.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 51. We saw two Sumbrero’s (a Mark for some of Quality) held up in the Boat-stern.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. xxvii. 338. Some lusty Dutch Men to carry their Palenqueens and Somereras or Umbrellas.
2. A broad-brimmed hat, usually of felt or some soft material, of a type common in Spain and Spanish America.
1770. Gentl. Mag., XL. 530. A brown cap or silk net, with a large flatted hat called a sombrero over it.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xiv. A slouched overspreading hat, which resembled the sombrero of a Spanish peasant.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, I. 280. In a velvet coat, with a sombrero slouched over his face.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 177. It is sometimes called … the hat-palm, the young shoots making excellent sombreros or panamas.
attrib. 1891. E. Roper, By Track & Trail, ix. 134. Their hats were of the sombrero order.
1900. Times, 29 Jan., 10/3. Graceful Khaki-coloured sombrero hats.
