Literary notes about gabardine (AI summary)
In literature, gabardine is employed as both a literal descriptor of durable, weather-resistant fabric and as a symbol laden with cultural and social connotations. Authors use it to paint vivid images of character and setting—from the ragged, makeshift attire that underscores marginalization, as in the depiction of a “Jew’s-harps” and ragged attire [1], to the refined, functional garments that signify both practicality and heritage [2]. In other instances, the gabardine is imbued with symbolic meaning, evoking ancestral identity or social critique through phrases like “Jewish gabardine” that carry historical and cultural weight [3, 4]. Whether highlighting the physicality of a well-cut trench or hinting at deeper societal narratives, the word lends a precise, evocative detail to the narrative fabric.
- We twanged at once a hundred Jew’s-harps in his ear, and before his eyes we paraded the effigy of a Jew, dressed in a gabardine of rags and paper.
— from Tales and Novels — Volume 09 by Maria Edgeworth - Strongly made of waterproof cotton gabardine cloth.
— from Military Equipment [1917] by Roebuck and Company Sears - And spit upon my Jewish gabardine; And all, for use of that which is my own.
— from Tales and Novels — Volume 09 by Maria Edgeworth - I doubt if a Hebrew ever became a good Christian if the baptismal rite was performed by spitting on his Jewish gabardine.
— from The Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes: An Index of the Project Gutenberg Editions by Oliver Wendell Holmes
