mantua
nounEtymology From French manteau, perhaps by confusion with Mantua in Italy.
1
An article of loose clothing popular in 17th- and 18th century France.
2
Obsolete A superior kind of rich silk formerly exported from Mantua in Italy.
- Anderson mentions black and coloured mantuas amongst other silks introduced here by the French immigrants of 1685. […] Mantuas are also included in a list of silks advertised for sale in the British Chronicle of 1763 […]1882, S. William Beck, The Draper's Dictionary:
3
Obsolete A woman's cloak or mantle.
4
Obsolete A woman's gown.
- Her dress was extremely elegant, but had an appearance of foreign fashion, as if both the lady and her mantua-maker were of 'a far countree’.1818, Thomas Love Peacock, chapter 9, in Nightmare Abbey, Hookham, published 1818:
- Derived terms
- mantuamaker, mantuamaking