soutane

plural soutanes

1. A long gown with sleeves and buttons at the front, particularly when worn by Roman Catholic clerics.

   The sight of a soutane, or the sound of a bell, puts them to flight; but the object of greatest abhorrence to them is the Holy Virgin.

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 432

   2 more examples

   The long, skimpy soutane accentuated the tallness of his stature; […] and the straight, black bar of his joined eyebrows[…] suggested something unlawful behind his priesthood, the idea of a chaplain of bandits.

   1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London; New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC

   Then at the door of the castle the rector had shaken hands with his father and mother, his soutane fluttering in the breeze, and the car had driven off with his father and mother on it.

   1916, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC

   Synonyms: cassock