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smock

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smock

[smok]
–noun
1. a loose, lightweight overgarment worn to protect the clothing while working.
–verb (used with object)
2. to clothe in a smock.
3. to draw (a fabric) by needlework into a honeycomb pattern with diamond-shaped recesses.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME (n.), OE smocc; orig. name for a garment with a hole for the head; cf. ON smjūga to put on (a garment) over the head


smocklike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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smock   (smŏk)   
n.  A loose coatlike outer garment, often worn to protect the clothes while working.
tr.v.   smocked, smock·ing, smocks
  1. To clothe in a smock.

  2. To decorate (fabric) with smocking.


[Middle English, woman's undergarment, from Old English smoc.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

smock 
O.E. smoc "woman's garment," from P.Gmc. *smukkaz (cf. O.N. smokkr, but this is perhaps from O.E., O.H.G. smoccho "smock," a rare word, N.Fris. smok, but this, too, perhaps from Eng.), from PIE base *smeugh- "to press" (cf. O.C.S. smykati se "to creep"). Original notion seems to be "garment one creeps into," as the word is related to O.N. smjuga "to creep into (a garment)" and O.E. smugan "to creep" and smygel "a burrow." Cf. also Ger. schmiegen "to cling to, to press close, nestle," hence M.H.G. verb smucken, Ger. schmucken "to adorn." Eng. smock was common down to 18c., and was emblematic of womanhood generally, cf. verb smock "to render (a man) effeminate or womanish" (1614); smock-face "person having a pale, effeminate face" (1605). Replaced by euphemistic shift (n.2). Modern meaning "woman's or child's loose dress or blouse" is from 1907; sense of "loose garment worn by artists over other clothes" is from 1938.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

smock

loose, shirtlike garment worn by women in the European Middle Ages under their gowns (also called a chemise). The smock later became a loose, yoked, shirtlike outer garment of coarse linen, used to protect the clothes; it was worn, for example, by fieldworkers in Europe.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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