Forms: 1 tunece, (tonica), 1–2 tunice, 2 tuneke; 6 tunake, 7 -ike, 7–8 tunick, tunique (also 9 as Fr.), 7– tunic. [ad. F. tunique or its source L. tunica (whence also Pr., Sp., Pg. tunica, It. tonica, tonaca, tunica, OE. tunece, OHG. tûnihha).]
1. A garment resembling a shirt or gown, worn by both sexes among the Greeks and Romans; in OE. and mediæval times, a body-garment or coat over which a loose mantle or cloak was worn.
Now worn on ceremonial occasions by princes and nobles.
[c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., V. x. § 3. Eft hie him sendon ane tunecan ongean.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xxiv. 18. Seþe on londæ sy ne cerraþ he eft to nimene his tunican [c. 1000 Ags. Gosp. tunecan, c. 1260 Hatton tuneken; Vulg. tunicam].
1603. Cerem. Coronat. Jas. I. (1685), 3. There is then also to be delivered to his Majesty the Tunica, or Shirt of red Silk.]
1609. Bible (Douay), Lev. viii. 7 (Comm.). A Tunike, or long robe downe to the foote.
1666. Evelyn, Diary, 30 Oct. To London to our office, and now had I on the vest and surcoat and tunic as ’twas call’d, after his Maty had brought the whole Court to it.
a. 1678. Marvell, Royal Resolutions, Wks. (Grosart), I. 434. I’ll have a fine tunick, a sash, and a vest.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 647. The goddess with a radiant tunick drest My limbs.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., The Monk, Calais. He [a Franciscan] gave a slight glance with his eye downwards upon the sleeve of his tunick.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, I. His garb … consisted of the long loose gown and the plain tunic, both of dark-grey serge.
2. Eccl. = TUNICLE 2. Only Hist.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Tunic,… a Church Ornament among the Romanists, worn by the Deacons that serve the Priest or Bishop at the Altar.
1764. in J. H. Harting, Hist. Sardinian Chapel (1905), 23. Two Tunics, with a stole, two maniples of taffeta.
1844. [see DALMATIC B.].
1877. J. D. Chambers, Div. Worship, 54. The Subdeacon was invested with the Tunic by the Bishop at his ordination.
3. In modern costume. a. A close, usually plain body-coat; now spec. that forming part of the uniform of soldiers and policemen.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 20 Oct. Put on my new tunique of velvett; which is very plain, but good. Ibid. (1668), 17 May. Put on my new stuff-suit,… the bands of my vest and tunique laced with silk lace, of the colour of my suit.
1868. Regul. & Ord. Army, 8 607. Medals are only to be worn with the tunic.
b. A garment worn by women, consisting of a bodice and an upper skirt, belted or drawn in at (or fitted to) the waist, worn over and displaying a longer skirt. (In very recent use, applied to the upper skirt alone.) Also, a kind of belted frock or smock worn by children.
Now often in Fr. form tunique.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VI. xviii. The child looks extremely well … in his vests and tunicks.
1800. Hull Advertiser, 4 Oct., 3/3. Paris fashions … tuniques of black crape are coming into wear.
1803. Times, 15 Jan. The short tunics of last year, which were called Mamelukes, are in great esteem this year under the name of Jewess Tunics.
1883. Truth, 31 May, 768/2. Tabs … appear on tunics, polonaises, bodices, and sleeves.
1887. A. W. Tuer & C. E. Fagan, First Year of Silken Reign, 1837–8, xi. 230 (Cent. Dict.). Her Majesty wore a white satin petticoat, over which was a silver llama tunic, trimmed with silver and white blonde lace and agrafé on either side with maiden blush roses.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 19 Jan., 3/2. It has consented to sport something tapering away over the back, which it has called its tunique.
1909. Daily Graphic, 20 Oct., 13/1. A noticeable feature in these dresses is the tight-fitting tunic which runs to the knees.
4. transf. a. Anat. A membranous sheath enveloping or lining an organ of the body; a ‘coat.’
1661. Blount, Glossopr. (ed. 2), Tunick … a skin or coat that covers the eye, whereof there are four sorts.
1678. Phil. Trans., XII. 976. The inner Tunick of the Nose.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Appetite, When the Stomach proves empty, the acid Liquor begins to work upon its internal Tunick.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xxxvii. 7. Besides these is an exterior and an interior tunic.
1880. M. C. Drysdale, in Med. Temp. Jrnl., Oct., 9. The tunics of the capillaries.
b. The integument of a part or organ in a plant; spec. in Bot. any loose membranous skin not formed from the epidermis; also, each layer or coating of a tunicate bulb.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., I. vi. (1765), 14. A Seed … is a Rudiment of a new Vegetable … covered with a bladdery Coat or Tunic.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 155. The long loose tunic of the seed is intended to act at first as a buoy, to float the seed upon the surface of the water.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 295. The tunics of the onion.
5. attrib. and Comb.
1828. La Belle Assemblée, VIII. Jul, 24. A Tunique-pelisse-robe of white jaconot-muslin.
1832. G. Clarke, Pompeii, II. xiii. 317. Tunic-pallium displayed.
1835. Court Mag., VI. p. i/1. The shirt is trimmed in the tunic style.
1860. Russell, Diary India, II. ix. 174. Thus, with an able-bodied aborigen holding on by my tunic-tails behind, I parachuted down.
1900. Daily News, 12 Dec., 7/3. The skirt is in the tunic form now fashionable.
Hence Tunic-hood (nonce-wd.), the condition of one who wears a tunic; Tunicked a., wearing a tunic: usually as second element in a compound; Tunicless a., without a tunic.
1756. C. Smart, trans. Horace, Epist., I. vii. (1826), II. 211. Vulteius … selling brokery-goods to the tuniced populace.
1821. Sir R. K. Porter, Trav., 606. The third and lowest bas-relief presents the same procession of robed and tiara-capped Persians, alternately arranged with their tunicked brethren, to the number of thirty-two. Ibid., 627. In this train, the tunicked and the robed have all the cased bow, or the dagger at the belt.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock, 150. Still in a state of tunic-hood, I remember a very tall, handsome gentleman, with a crimson velvet under-waistcoat.
1876. A. J. Evans, Through Bosnia, ii. 76–7. Croat men, white tunicked and white breeked.
1887. J. N. Edwards, in Kansas City Times, 2 June, in Biogr., etc. 144. At Sedan it [the army] was shoeless, tunicless and well-nigh out of ammunition.
1893. R. K. Douglas, Chinese Stories, 218. A larger band of red-tunicked men.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 21 Sept., 2/1. The King wears a long tunic-like garment … and a cloak.
1904. Daily News, 30 Sept., 7. He pulled me, tunicless, out, giving me my sword and revolver.
