buff jerkin

English[edit]

buff jerkin (plural buff jerkins)

(historical) A jacket made of buff leather, formerly worn beneath a soldier's armour.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 49, column 2:
  Fal. Thou ſay'ſt true Lad: is not my Hoſteſſe of the Tauerne a moſt ſweet Wench? / Prin. As is the hony, my old Lad of the Caſtle: and is not a Buffe Ierkin a moſt ſweet robe of durance?
- 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 10:
  […] ſome of them attempted with Spears to ſtick me in the Sides; but, by good luck, I had on me a Buff Jerkin, which they could not pierce.

“buff jerkin”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
“buff-jerkin, n.” under “buff, n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.