Surtouts

He follows the fashions of former days, adapting them to his present needs; he tips his hat on the back of his head, and wears shoes and thread stockings in summer; his long-tailed coats remind one of the well-known "surtouts" of the Empire; he has not yet abandoned his frilled shirts and his white waistcoats; he still plays with his ❋ Honor�� De Balzac (1824)

The little watering-place has returned to its primitive obscurity; and lions and lionesses, with their several jackals, blue surtouts, and bluer stockings, fiddlers and dancers, painters and amateurs, authors and critics, dispersed like pigeons by the demolition of a dovecot, have sought other scenes of amusement and rehearsal, and have deserted ST. ❋ Unknown (2008)

“Two surtouts are a good thing,” murmured Fauchelevent, who really was ❋ Unknown (2008)

A local historian writing in 1853 remembered them as the motliest people in the world: the men wore everything from slouch hats, to short-waisted frocks, to swallowtailed dress coats, to double-breasted jackets, to surtouts, to bang-ups, to Spanish wrappers, to serapes, to bear skins when women started arriving in number, the men began to tone it up a little. ❋ Ron Powers (2005)

European costume; the sturdy police, with bandeliers and brown surtouts, keeping order, driving off the faithful from the railings of the Esplanade through which their Emperor was to pass, and only admitting (with a very unjust partiality, I thought) us Europeans into that reserved space. ❋ Unknown (2004)

No popish pretender! an insinuation so ill relished by the cavaliers, that they began to ply their horsewhips among the multitude, and were, in their turn, saluted with a discharge or volley of stones, dirt, and dead cats; in consequence of which some teeth were demolished, and many surtouts defiled. ❋ Unknown (2004)

Thin little old men in sober surtouts were reading the Russian papers. ❋ Unknown (2003)

Thus I stared at balmacaans and surtouts, dolmans and jerkins of paduasoy, matelasse, and a hundred other costly fabrics without ever going into the places that displayed them, or even stopping to examine them. ❋ Wolfe, Gene (1980)

They have not thought it necessary that a place in which a hundred gentlemen in surtouts meet to discuss secular matters in this nineteenth century, should be made to resemble a chapel of the fifteenth. ❋ Various (N/A)

They are furthermore adorned with a small quantity of broad black braid discreetly applied to their tight, long-skirted surtouts. ❋ Various (N/A)

The travellers in the early part of the afternoon look warm and comfortable, as if taking a summer drive; but as eve draws nearer, you meet them well wrapped in top-coats or cloaks, or rough, great surtouts, and red-nosed withal, seeming to take no great comfort, but pressing homeward. ❋ Various (N/A)

There were also gentlemen-farmers, neatly, trimly, and fashionably dressed, in handsome surtouts and trousers, strapped under their boots. ❋ Various (N/A)

Indeed, the only hour in the day when there is any appearance of life in these streets is at noon, when the labors of the garden and the exercises of the games being suspended, many of the male inhabitants either sit about idle, or lie sleeping like Italian lazzaroni, or stand grouped together in long, light-colored surtouts with a negligent grace and natural dignity not surpassed in antique statues. ❋ John Milton Mackie (N/A)

Aye, and on the whited wall, draw thee a picture of power and beauty Cleveland, for instance, thanking the peoples party for all the favors gratuitously granted by our mongrel saints in speckled linen and green surtouts. ❋ Unknown (1923)

And so, moving softly lest we disturb the three sonorous sleepers, a wholly unnecessary precaution, we took our hats and surtouts and stepped out into an empty street swept by a clean, soft wind that cooled my throbbing temples, and my sick heaviness was lifted somewhat in the sweet, pure breath of dawn. ❋ Jeffery Farnol (1915)

Still, somehow or other, the peace has been kept in Florentine fashion; it has rained once or twice, which is always enough here to moderate the most revolutionary when they wear their best surtouts, and I look forward to an unbroken tranquillity just as I used to do, even though the windows of the Ridolfi Palace (the ambassador in London) were smashed the other evening a few yards from ours. ❋ Kenyon, Frederic G (1898)

He was of high stature, well-formed and fleshy; he had a soft and somewhat hoarse voice, as is often the case with worthy Russians; he observed neatness in his linen and dress, wore white cravats and tobacco-colored, long-skirted surtouts -- but his noble blood always showed itself; no one would have taken him for a priest's son or a shopkeeper. ❋ Unknown (1888)

We then exchanged our hats for the caps taken from the rebel cavalry, donned the blue surtouts, and set out; Captain Falconer and the guide riding at the head. ❋ Robert Neilson Stephens (1886)

Rarely was an outer garment put on by men during the week days of winter except on Sundays when riding cloaks were the common wear for women, surtouts for men. ❋ John Albee (1874)