lawn sleeves
lawn sleeves noun: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lawn, sleeves.
Noun
lawn sleeves pl (plural only)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lawn, sleeves.
- The sleeves of a bishop's ceremonial garments.
- The LORD CHANCELLOR declared, that in his opinion, a bishop might vote either in his lawn sleeves, or in his robes ; and in proof of it, his Lordship said he hasd more than once seen Bishops vote in a Committee of Privileges without their lawn sleeves.1800, “House of Lords, Wedneday, July 23”, in The Parliamentary Register, volume 12, page 481
- The bishops of the Anglican or Roman Catholic churches.
- I shall implore the aid of the lawn sleeves and ermine on that occasion.1777, “Debate on Lord C------n's motion more amending the address”, in John Nichols, editor, The Gentleman's magazine, volume 47, E. Cave, page 606
- “In the House of Lords, most likely. I rather think of bein there to-morrow night, and shal look sharpish after the lawn sleeves, you ma depend on’t."1845, James Anthony Froude, John Tulloch, editors, Fraser's Magazine, volume 32, J. Fraser
Forms of lawn sleeves
| alternative form | lawn-sleeves |
|---|
Origin of lawn sleeves
From the sleeves of the bishops' robes, which were made of lawn (“fine linen”).
Questions about lawn sleeves
- What does lawn sleeves mean?
- Lawn sleeves means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lawn, sleeves.
- What part of speech is lawn sleeves?
- Lawn sleeves is a noun.
Words near lawn sleeves in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lawn sleeves (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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