Meanings
plural pelerines
- A kind of short cape or covering for the shoulders, associated especially with medieval pilgrims (of any gender).
[…] Around his shoulders, he wore a thick gray pelerine. This was the custom of the knights of the Kingdom of the Spears, the land of the beaches and the chalk cliffs with great castles[…]
2021 November 16, Clark Gillian, The Enchanted Deer and the Dreams of the Fool, Brave New Books, →ISBN1 more example
Beneath the pale light crouched an ancient white-haited man, wrapped against the rain in a threadbare maroon pelerine. “Alms, sire,” he croaked, his eyes wide and fearful, his face lean and hungry. He was so thin […]
2004 09, Julie D'Arcy, Silverdawn, Mundania Press, →ISBN, page 17 - A woman's tippet or cape with long ends coming down in front.
1 more example
Pilgrims, male or female, wore gowns […] A hood was usually added, but even if that were omitted, the pilgrim wore a shoulder-cape, a custom so universal that this type of cape came to be called a "pelerine," a name still used in the nineteenth century to describe the short capes fashionable in women's dress.
[1935, Lucy Barton, Historic Costume for the Stage, Baker's Plays, page 138
Origin
- Late Latinpelegrīnus
- Frenchpèlerine
- Englishpelerine
Borrowed from French pèlerine, feminine of pèlerin (“pilgrim”), from Late Latin pelegrīnus. First attested in 1744.
More words from French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian пелери́на
- пелери́на (pelerína)woman's tippet
Catalan esclavina
- esclavinawoman's tippet
Czech pelerína
- pelerínawoman's tippet
Dutch pelerine
- pelerinewoman's tippet
French pèlerine
- pèlerinewoman's tippet
German Pelerine
- Pelerinewoman's tippet
Polish peleryna
- pelerynawoman's tippet
Romanian pelerină
- pelerinăwoman's tippet
Russian пелери́на
- пелери́на (pelerína)woman's tippet
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pelerine
Cite this entry
pelerine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pelerine
“pelerine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pelerine. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pelerine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pelerine.
Source: pelerine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.