stomacher

plural stomachers

1. obsoleteA type of men's waistcoat.First known use 15th–18th c.
2. historicalAn ornamental cloth, often embellished with embroidery or jewelry, worn over the chest by women beneath their bodices or by men and women as the central part of an open shirt, blouse, or jacket.

   Stomacher brooch of brilliants and fine oriental pearls.

   1851, Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue: Volume 2, page 689

   5 more examples

   And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher [translating פְּתִיגִיל] a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 3:24

   She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised.

   1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC

   Here, from the fading canvas, smiled Lady Elizabeth Devereux, in her gauze hood, pearl stomacher, and pink slashed sleeves.

   1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

   From about 1850 onwards jewellery varied between these outsize sprays, stomachers and corsage montages and smaller, more delicate pieces which appeared almost understated by contrast.

   1964, Mona Curran, Collecting Antique Jewellery, Emerson Books, page 76

   The most striking accessory of all, however, was a diamond stomacher, a kind of lapidary bib that covered the princess's chest and stomach. We do not know exactly what Charlotte was thinking as she stood under the weight of silver, ermine, velvet, and jewels. But we know what many who saw her thought about her stomacher.

   2006, Judith Pascoe, The Hummingbird Cabinet, Cornell University Press,, →ISBN, page 58

3. A similar item of mail worn over and protecting the stomach.

   Over it he placed a chain mail stomacher. Then, atop all, he strapped on an item of shaped metal he called a tace. “There,”he said at last. “She might knock the windout of you, but she won't kill you.”

   2013 October 18, Eileen Gunn, Questionable Practices: Stories, Small Beer Press, →ISBN

   1 more example

   Irritated to find his way barred by a brace of Englishmen, Victoire took one below the ear and the other low down, through the mail stomacher, before tramping on into the shade of a tree and sitting down with his back to the trunk.

   2019 January 1, Geraldine McCaughrean, Vainglory: Can anything stop the Gloriole family achieving power?, Mereo Books, →ISBN, page 127

4. A blow to the stomach.

   Thomas resenting such ungenerous behaviour, bestowed such a stomacher upon the officious intermeddler, as discomposed the whole œconomy of his entrails, and obliged him to discharge the interjection ah! with demonstration of great anguish and amazement.

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC