unionall

English

Etymology

Originally a brand name.

Noun

unionall (plural unionalls)

The original Unionalls

1. (usually in the plural) A one-piece garment that is used as work clothes or as a uniform.
   • 1920, Munsey's Magazine - Volume 69, page 451:

     Frowning thought held him a moment; then he clawed beneath his unionall.

   • 1920, Western Advertising - Volume 2, page 40:

     The girls in the baseball team were all dressed in unionalls.

   • 1947, Dorothy Fostre Brown, “Overall Buttons”, in Hobbies, volume 52, page 32:

     It may be that Overall and Unionall buttons are not remarkable for their beauty of design, nor yet for their technical excellence;

   • 1961, Mental Hospitals, page 35:

     Very few patients had underwear in the summer, and those who wore unionalls never had underwear.

   • 1985, Where the Two Streams Meet, page 347:

     I wish Bessie and T.B. had sent something for this boy to wear besides these unionalls.

   • 2008, Jane Lowrey-Christian, Budgie and Sissy's Adventure: Growing up in North Missouri, page 67:

     Put on your long socks, Sissy, and you both can wear your striped unionalls too.

   • 2012, Anita Brenner, Idols Behind Altars: Modern Mexican Art and Its Cultural Roots:

     These garments became so fashionable that the sleekest of boudoir decorators ordered himself silk pajamas the colour and cut of unionalls and jumpers.

   • 2014, Fred L. Walker, From Texas to Rome: A General's Journal, page 332:

     She arrived wearing a GI wool cap and OD unionalls.

2. (mortuary technology) A clear vinyl onesie used to prevent leakage from a corpse from soiling the body's clothes or casket lining.
   • 2011, Robert G. Mayer, Embalming: History, Theory, and Practice:

     If general edema, tissue decomposition or extensive burns are present, a unionall may be necessary to protect the clothing once the body is dressed.

   • 2011, Dr Bill Bass, Jefferson Bass, Jon Jefferson, Beyond the Body Farm:

     In cases of extensive trauma, trying to fill a body with embalming fluid is like trying to fill a sieve or a sponge. To help lessen the leakage, the funeral home had zipped the body inside a “Unionall,” a leak-resistant jumpsuit, before dressing the Bopper in his funeral suit.

   • 2019, Caitlin Doughty, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs: Big questions from tiny mortals about death, page 249:

     Some of the very nervous (or careful) in my profession use shrink wrap, heating it up with a hairdryer to seal it, then put the unionall garment over the top of the shrink wrap.