habergeon

Noun

habergeon (plural habergeons)

1. (historical) A sleeveless or short-sleeved coat of mail armour (a shorter hauberk).
   • Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30, page 265
   • And it came to paſſe from that time forth, that the halfe of my ſeruants wrought in the worke, and the other halfe of them held both the ſpeares, the ſhields and the bowes, and the habergeons, and the rulers were behind all the houſe of Iudah.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 4:16, column 1
2. (historical) The quilted undergarment worn under a hauberk.
   • His quilted habergeon stuffed with cotton, gave him, indeed, an exterior almost herculean. What finally became of this brave belligerent I did not learn; but as he was never shy in exposing his person, it is very probable that[…]1839, David Price, Memoirs of the Early Life and Service of a Field Officer, on the Retired List of the Indian Army, page 242
   • There would be an iron helmet, with protection for the face given by the hinged vizor; body armour of a mixture of chainmail and plate, worn over a thick padded habergeon of cloth or leather; iron gauntlets.1992, Derek Brewer, Chaucer and His World, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, →ISBN, page 58
3. (broadly) A hauberk, any coat of mail, less commonly even a coat of scale armour.
   • The defensive armour, or coat of mail of a knight, or man at arms, (also called a hauberk or habergeon,) was[…]1835, The Saturday Magazine, page 123
   • The Egyptians wore a kind of tippet, or square piece with a hole in it for the head to pass through, covering the shoulders and breast; this is the hauberk or habergeon. It was of scale armour; and below it, to protect the rest[…]1878, Susan Bogert Warner, The kingdom of Judah, by the author of 'The wide, wide world'., page 138