gambeson
/ˈɡæm.bɪ.sən/
gambeson noun: a defensive garment formerly in use for the body, made of cloth stuffed and quilted, often worn as padding under armor.
Noun
gambeson (plural gambesons)
- A defensive garment formerly in use for the body, made of cloth stuffed and quilted, often worn as padding under armor.
- Although the gambeson was chiefly worn under the coat of mail, to protect the body from being bruised by the strokes of the sword or lance, a circumstance that might happen without a division of the mail, the verses quoted in the Siege of Karleverok, shew that it was sometimes worn as a fur coat...1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 18
- The uniform jacket is a kind of padded armor called "gambeson." Layers of quilted cloth.2024, Cube Kid [pseudonym; Erik Gunnar Taylor], Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior: Shadow over Aetheria, page 51
Forms of gambeson
| plural | gambesons |
|---|---|
| alternative form | gambison |
Origin of gambeson
From Middle English gambison, from Old French gambeson, gambaison, from gambais, wambais (“quilted jerkin”), from Medieval Latin wambāsium (“doublet, waistcoat”), from Frankish *wamba (“abdomen, belly”), from Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, womb”): compare Middle High German wambeis, German Wams (“waistcoat, doublet”), from Old High German wamba (“stomach”). More at womb.
Questions about gambeson
- What does gambeson mean?
- Gambeson means a defensive garment formerly in use for the body, made of cloth stuffed and quilted, often worn as padding under armor.
- What part of speech is gambeson?
- Gambeson is a noun.
- How do you pronounce gambeson?
- Gambeson is pronounced /ˈɡæm.bɪ.sən/.
- What is the plural of gambeson?
- The plural of gambeson is gambesons.
Words near gambeson in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gambeson (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.
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Cite this entry: “gambeson.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gambeson. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.