Word.ws English Dictionary

dolman

Syllables: dol·man/ˈdɒlmən/US/ˈdoʊlmən/

dolman noun: a long, loose garment with narrow sleeves and an opening in the front, generally worn by Turks.

Noun

dolman (plural dolmans)

  1. A long, loose garment with narrow sleeves and an opening in the front, generally worn by Turks.
    • Feriz Beg, on discarding his dolman, rolled up the sleeves of his fine shirt of Turkish linen to his shoulders, and drew from its sheath his fine Damascus scimitar, which was scarce two inches broad, and so flexible that you could have bent it double in every direction like a watch-spring.1903, Maurus Jókai, “Three Men”, in R[obert] Nisbet Bain, transl., The Slaves of the Padishah: (“The Turks in Hungary,” being the Sequel to “Midst the Wild Carpathians”): A Romance, 3rd edition...
    • [I]n the second half of the century the long Turkish dolman disappears completely and tight, knee-length dolmans and mentes become general.1938, The Hungarian Quarterly, volume IV, Budapest; New York, N.Y.: Society of the Hungarian Quarterly, →OCLC, page 292
  2. A short, close-fitting, heavily braided military jacket, usually worn under a pelisse, originally by hussars.
    • Robert nodded in reply to her question and not only took off his helmet but unhooked his pelisse, threw it on a chair, and unbuttoned the top of his dolman.1983, Roberta Gellis, Fortune's Bride, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing, →ISBN
    • Sitting on the chair's edge, he shrugged a shoulder until his dolman fell into place, then balanced his helmet on his knee like a pampered pet.1998, Gayle Greeno, Sunderlies Seeking (DAW Book Collectors; no. 1103), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →ISBN
  3. A woman's garment with wide capelike sleeves.
    • She, who never went out, found a bonnet that I had never seen before, put a dolman over her best silk dress, locked the guinea fowl safe in her kitchen and got into a hack with Henry, her smelling-bottle and her cap, in which was a new bunch of everlasting flowers.1942, Emily Carr, “A Little Town and a Little Girl: Characters”, in The Book of Small (Project Gutenberg Australia; eBook no. 0400201.txt), Toronto: Oxford University Press, published February 2004...
    • She turned slowly – she was dressed in tussore and a dolman.1978, Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, Abacus, published 2014, page 162

Proper noun capitalized: Dolman

Dolman

  1. A surname.

Examples of dolman in a sentence

  • The quintessentially Hungarian item of men's clothing was the dolman.1980, Katalin Földi-Dózsa, “How the Hungarian National Costume Evolved”, in Polly Cone, editor, The Imperial Style: Fashions of the...
  • He wore his dolman slung over one shoulder and clasped at his throat with a gold chain, and carried his Hussar's bearskin busby under his right arm.2005, Wilbur [Addison] Smith, The Triumph of the Sun, London: Macmillan Publishers, →ISBN:
  • The uniform jacket with several rows of buttons and a horizontal braid across the front originally worn by the Hussars was also called a dolman.2015, “dolman”, in Annette Lynch, Mitchell D. Strauss, editors, Ethnic Dress in the United States: A Cultural Encyclopedia, Lanham, Md....
  • In general, dolmans are recognizable for their winged kimono-like sleeves and T shape.2011, Lisa Shroyer, “The Dolman Sweater”, in Knitting Plus: Mastering Fit + Plus-Size Style + 15 Projects, Loveland, Colo.: Interweave...

Forms of dolman

Noun
pluraldolmans
alternative formdollman
alternative formdolama
Proper noun
alternative formDoleman

Origin of dolman

Apparently from French doliman, dolman (sense 2), ultimately from Ottoman Turkish طولامان, دولامان (dolaman, “robe”), from طولامق (dolamak, “to wrap around”). Compare German Doliman, Dollman; Hungarian dolmány.

Questions about dolman

What does dolman mean?
Dolman means a long, loose garment with narrow sleeves and an opening in the front, generally worn by Turks.
How do you use dolman in a sentence?
The quintessentially Hungarian item of men's clothing was the dolman.
What part of speech is dolman?
Dolman can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce dolman?
Dolman is pronounced /ˈdɒlmən/ (UK).
What is the plural of dolman?
The plural of dolman is dolmans.

Words near dolman in the dictionary

  1. dolmadakia
  2. dolmade
  3. dolmades
  4. Dolmadjian
  5. Dolmadjians
  6. dolman
  7. dolmancha
  8. dolmans
  9. dolmas
  10. dolmathe
  11. dolmathes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dolman (page history and authors); Dolman (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dolman.wav.

Cite this entry: “dolman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dolman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.