Geneva gown
- noun
:
toga de Ginebra
- The minister donned his Geneva gown before the Sunday service.
Examples
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Many seminaries still require students to wear the traditional Geneva gown at graduation.
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During the ceremony, she wore a simple black Geneva gown in keeping with church tradition.
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The Geneva gown is beautiful.
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I love my Geneva gown!
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During the ceremony, she wore a simple black Geneva gown in keeping with church tradition.
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Many seminaries still require students to wear the traditional Geneva gown at graduation.
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The minister donned his Geneva gown before the Sunday service.
Synonyms
Church leaders wear a long loose piece of clothing for church services
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound simply links a place name ('Geneva') with 'gown', so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a particular style or type of gown associated with Geneva. However, the specific cultural/clerical sense — a black academic robe worn by Protestant/Reformed clergy — is specialized and not directly predictable from the constituents, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
Geneva gown may come from the city of Geneva, where ministers in the 1500s wore a plain black gown to show modesty and their role as teachers. That's why the name stuck and today 'Geneva gown' means the 'black robe' worn by Protestant ministers and at some academic ceremonies.