mess jacket

plural mess jackets

1. A double-breasted jacket, part of mess kit.

   “I often wonder,” he said, “whether I oughtn’t to dress for dinner—when I’m alone ’ere.” ¶ Coote protruded his lips and reflected. “Not full dress,” he adjudicated; “that would be a little excessive. But you should change, you know. Put on a mess jacket and that sort of thing—easy dress […].”

   1905, H. G. Wells, Kipps, New York: Scribner, published 1906, Chapter 5, §3, pp. 273-274