frock
/frɒk
/noun chiefly British
1A woman’s or girl’s dress: her new party frock...
- As for the little girls, they were allowed to wear different coloured frocks and dresses.
- He had been there from the beginning, since the little girl in the pink frock had raised her scrubby fist and inquired fearfully about the ‘bad people.’
- The girl in the blue frock led Lia along a corridor leading from the banquet hall, until she found a room near the end of the wing with double doors and gold door handles.
Synonyms
dress, gown, robe, shift;
garment, costume
2A loose outer garment, in particular:Tavisome wears only a loose white frock, is obviously quite short, and is completely unarmed....
- Their frocks or jumpers had deep collars decorated with white tape by 1879.
- The awful frocks were replaced by suits with shoulders.
2.1A long gown with flowing sleeves worn by monks, priests, or clergy: the chaplain tottered in stiff splendid frocks...
- These two beat up Sancho when he tries to take some friars' frocks as battle spoils.
- He wears a priest's collar and carries a machine gun under his frock.
- A round, balding priest hurried down the center aisle, his black frock billowing behind him.
2.2 historical An agricultural worker’s smock; a smock-frock.
2.3 short for frock coat.
2.4 archaic A woollen jersey worn by sailors: his Cornish-knit frock
3 archaic The work and position of a priest: such words as these cost the preacher his frock
Derivatives
frocked
[in combination]: a black-frocked Englishman
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French froc, of Germanic origin. The sense 'priest's or monk's gown' is preserved in defrock.
This comes from Old French froc, of Germanic origin. The original sense ‘priest's or monk's gown’ is preserved in defrock (late 16th century).