DCHP-1 Online

capote [< Cdn F < F]

• 1 n. a serviceable hooded greatcoat of blanket cloth, moosehide, or other material, long the standard wear among traders and trappers in the North, who took this warm garment over from the habitants and voyageurs of New France.

  See also: Canadian coat  parka (def. 2)  

  • 1665  [He] throws his cappot away, bidding me also to leave my capot.
  • 1789  (1801)  . . . I presented him with one of my capots or travelling coats.
  • 1896  The vapor from our heated bodies gathered on the hair of our capotes. . . .
  • 1955  Here he equipped himself for the coming winter with a warm capote of thick white duffle trimmed with red and with a blue hood.

• 2 n. the hood of such a garment.

  See also: capuchin  

  • 1795  (1911)  The Canadian coats, with capots and sashes, look very picturesque.
  • 1893  (1908)  A long coat made out of either bison or wolf skin protected the body, and a capote of the same material covered the head.
  • 1940  The capot, of course, at that season hung down the back.

• 3 n. a winter cap, as a tuque.

  See also: tuque  

  • 1888  (1890)  [The lumberjacks] mostly wear capotes, a red cap the same as the bonnet rouge at the time of the French Revolution.
  • 1938  Then over his head she put the capote or hunting cap.