scapular

plural scapulars

1. ChristianityA short cloak worn around the shoulders, adopted as part of the uniform of various religious orders, later often with an embroidered image of a saint.First known use 15th c.

   A scapular, or friar's coat, for example, was a coveted object to be worn as a preservative against pestilence or the ague […]

   1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 30

   1 more example

   She granted the Whitefriars identical powers to the Blackfriars, to bless a part of their friar's habit which draped over their shoulders and was known as the scapular; now laity could wear it and derive spiritual privileges from it.

   2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 409

2. biologyOne of a special group of feathers which arise from each of the scapular regions and lie along the sides of the back.

   Synonyms: scapulary

3. A bandage passing over the shoulder to support it, or to retain another bandage in place.
4. ChristianityA devotional object, typically consisting of two rectangular pieces of cloth (often with an embroidered image or text) joined with cloth bands and worn with one piece over the chest and one in the back.

1. not comparableOf or pertaining to the scapula.First known use 18th c.

   Synonyms: scapulary