subs. (American).—A Quaker: the Quaker coat from neck to skirt follows the ventral line of the shad—hence SHAD-BELLIED = sloping in front like a Quaker coat. Cf. CUTAWAY.
1871. H. B. STOWE, Oldtown Fireside Stories, i. He was kind ’o mournful and thin and SHAD-BELLIED.
1870. JUDD, Margaret, I. xiii. Three-cornered hats, SHAD-BELLIED coats, shoe and knee buckles.
