old gown

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English[edit]

Noun[edit]

old gown (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete, slang) smuggled tea
    • 1879, John Owens, Plain Papers Relating to the Excise Branch of the Inland Revenue Department, From 1621 to 1878, page 444:
      […] their horses loaded with 150 to 200 lbs. of “old gown” (smuggled tea) […]
    • 1883, S. William Beck, Gloves, Their Annals and Associations, page 165:
      […] at this time there was a very general leaning towards cheap brandy or tobacco; "old gown," as smuggled tea was called, was in general request, […]

References[edit]

  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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