[UNDER-1 5 a.]
1. Underclothes; a set of underclothing.
1785. Burns, Mauchline Wedding, 17. But modest Muses only think What ladies’ underdress is On sic a day.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xvii. 18. Each man had a woollen underdress.
2. A dress or gown worn beneath another; a past of a gown so made as to present the appearance of being worn in this way.
1861. Archaeologia, XXXIX. 250. The sleeves of his doublet are cloth of gold; the under-dress is of a lavender gray.
1897. Daily News, 23 Jan., 6/3. The under-dress, which showed in front, had three slashes of velvet at the sides.
