long robe

English

Etymology

From long + robe, after Middle French robe longue.

Noun

long robe (uncountable)

1. (with definite article, now rare) The legal profession. [from 16th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     [H]e contracted intimacies in some families of good fashion, especially those of the long robe, which would have enabled him to pass his time very agreeably, had he been a little easier in point of fortune […] .

   • 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 150:

     I once saw two brothers of the long robe involuntarily stop and heartily enjoy the dialogue of that merry little fellow with Jack Ketch, who was about to hang Punch for the murder of his wife and his innocent babe.

Anagrams

• Golborne