Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long tunic made of chain mail.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A part of mail armor intended originally for the protection of the neck and shoulders, but as generally used a long coat of mail coming below the knees and even nearly to the ankles, slit up the sides, and sometimes in front and behind, to allow the wearer to mount a horse.
  • noun In the fourteenth century and later, a piece of defensive armor, probably an outer garment of splint armor. See splint, jesserant, and crevisse.
  • noun Among actors, a short tunic forming a part of medieval dress.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A coat of mail; especially, the long coat of mail of the European Middle Ages, as contrasted with the habergeon, which is shorter and sometimes sleeveless. By old writers it is often used synonymously with habergeon. See habergeon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A coat of mail; especially, the long coat of mail of the European Middle Ages, as contrasted with the habergeon, which is shorter and sometimes sleeveless.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a long (usually sleeveless) tunic of chain mail formerly worn as defensive armor

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French hauberc, of Germanic origin; see kwel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French hauberc, of Germanic origin, perhaps Frankish.

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Examples

  • Albright borrowed some new equipment from the local blacksmith – no full plate, unfortunately, but an adequate shield and chain hauberk for him, and a crossbow, light sword, and hauberk for Nora.

    The Kurse of Kain « A Fly in Amber 2008

  • These days I will more often call a hauberk a mail shirt or a gambeson a quilted tunic.

    Archaic terminology in historical fiction Carla 2006

  • The hauberk was a complete covering of double chain mail.

    The Age of Fable Thomas Bulfinch 1831

  • Mail armor, of which the hauberk is a species, and which derived its name from maille, a French word for MESH, was of two kinds,

    The Age of Chivalry Thomas Bulfinch 1831

  • The hauberk was a complete covering of double chain mail.

    The Age of Chivalry Thomas Bulfinch 1831

  • Mail armor, of which the hauberk is a species, and which derived its name from maille, a French word for MESH, was of two kinds,

    The Age of Fable Thomas Bulfinch 1831

  • See Guest, "The Mabinogion".] [Footnote 110: The hauberk was a long shirt of mail reaching to the knees, worn by knights in combat.

    Four Arthurian Romances de Troyes Chr��tien 1914

  • [Footnote 1: 'Hauberk:' the hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail that sat close to the body, and adapted itself to every motion.] [Footnote 2: 'Stout Glo'ster:' Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red,

    Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett With Memoirs, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes Thomas Parnell 1698

  • In their allowed pleasures and pastimes, let them wear that spiritual hauberk which is invulnerable to the darts of the wicked; let them steadfastly set their faces against whatever thy word disallows; and, should fiery trial and temptation beset them, enable them, having done all, to stand. "

    Jacques Bonneval Anne Manning 1843

  • And a figure in steel helmet and leather hauberk—faceless behind a bent nose guard, ageless within the armor of war—had delivered the death blow.

    Earl of Durkness Alix Rickloff 2011

Comments

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  • A shorter variant of this object, with short sleeves, is called a haubergeon.

    November 8, 2007

  • "And then they let their horses run as fast as they might, so that the other knight smote Sir Melias through hauberk and through the left side, that he fell to the earth nigh dead."

    - Thomas Malory, 'The Holy Grail'.

    September 8, 2009