monkey jacket
English
Noun
monkey jacket (plural monkey jackets)
- (dated) A type of close-fitting jacket worn by sailors.
- 1820, Francis Forbes, "The Banks of Newfoundland":
- You bully boys of Liverpool, I'll have you to beware,
- When you sail on them packet ships, no dungaree jumpers wear;
- But have a big monkey jacket all ready to your hand,
- For there blows some cold nor'westers on the Banks of Newfoundland.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
- We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers.
- 1820, Francis Forbes, "The Banks of Newfoundland":
- A semiformal lightweight jacket, usually made of nylon, with striped cuffs and neck, similar to an MA-1 flight jacket.
- (US, medicine, slang) A hospital gown.
Synonyms
- (semiformal, lightweight jacket): mess jacket