tea-gown

plural tea-gowns · alternative tea gown · alternative teagown

1. A loose-fitting semiformal gown, made of light fabrics, worn in the late 19th and early 20th century for entertaining, especially for afternoon tea.

   '[H]er luggage contained only a chiffon negligée so elaborate as to be more a tea gown than a dressing-gown.'

   1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 9, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 269

   3 more examples

   Eve crushed in a corner, a sorrowful, dainty shape in the silk and lace of her pretty tea-gown, with the white drawn face of a scared child […]

   1893, Arthur Moore, A Comedy of Masks, page 309

   Across the white silken draperies of her tea-gown her two little hands are loosely locked together amongst the laces that adorn it, and from beneath its lowermost frill I can just see the point of a tiny satin slipper.

   1868, Edwin Waugh, Dules-gate; or, a Frisk through Lancashire Clough, page 4

   There is probably no form of gown more replete with interest to the artistic designer, nor one that lends itself to greater individuality of expression, than the tea-gown.

   1923, Country Life, volume 54, page 164

   Synonyms: tea dress