sarong

plural sarongs

1. A garment made of a length of printed cloth wrapped about the waist that is commonly worn by men and women in South and Southeast Asia, also in the Pacific islands.

   A few mats, baskets, and cooking vessels, with plates and basins purchased from the Macassar traders, constitute their whole furniture; spears and bows are their weapons; a sarong or mat forms the clothing of the women, a waist-cloth of the men.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 231

   1 more example

   [David] Beckham donning a sarong was taken as incontrovertible proof that Posh had somehow managed to steal him from the world of men, by witchcraft. It is absolutely impossible to overestimate how upset people were by sarong-gate, particularly the tabloid media. The Sun ran the pic with the headline: “Beckham has got his Posh frock on.”

   2025 May 2, Zoe Williams, Sarah Gilbert, “David Beckham at 50: his gorgeous, outrageous life in 50 pictures”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: lungi