DCHP-1 Online
kossack [< East Esk.; perhaps related to kasagea, q.v., harbor seal] 
1 n. Eastern Arctic and Lab. a short sealskin jacket of the pullover type.
- 1884 A cossack is a loose short jacket.
- 1918 The kossak should be made with, so to speak, no neck through which the heat one produces, can leak out. The headpiece must be attached to the tunic, which also clips tight round the wrists, and round the waist, to retain the heat. The edges may be bound with fur. . . .
- 1924 Their [Eskimos'] dress consists of an upper garment of skin called a "kossack."
- 1939 She dressed Eskimo fashion for this, with sealskin breeches and sealskin cossack with the usual long tail.
2 n. a similar garment of deer or caribou skin.
- 1939 The Nascopie men wore no trousers but they had long scarlet cloth leggings. The upper garment was a deerskin cossack pulled over the head. The outside was usually painted in bright designs, and the hair was inside. When they bought shirts, the shirts were worn outside the cossack.
- 1884 A cossack is a loose short jacket.