dungarees

Etymology

It is the plural of dungaree, a coarse cotton cloth, used for trousers or overalls made of it.^[2][3][4][5] The name of the cloth is borrowed from Hindi डूंगरी (dūngrī, “coarse calico”),^{[6][3][7][8][9][1]} said to be the name of a village that is now a quarter of Bombay.^[4][7][10] The OED derives it instead from a Marathi word for "Dongari cloth", named from a hill fort and its port near Mumbai, from which the cloth was first traded;^[2] Hobson-Jobson quotes Molesworth's Marathi dictionary for the same account, the cloth being sold in the quarter next to the fort.^[11] The first English record, in 1613, may have come through Dutch dongri (“a kind of cloth”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sailors' trousers or overalls of blue dungaree: 1856, in Charles Nordhoff's Merchant Vessel.^[2] Etymonline dates the plural to 1868,^[4] and Barnhart to 1891, in Kipling's City of the Dreadful Night.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The cloth itself is recorded as “dongerijns” in 1613, and in its present spelling in 1696.^[3][2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1673.^[8] In India it was a cheap, coarse cotton cloth, worn by poor people and also used for the sails of native boats and for tents.^[11] The plural spread from sailors' uniforms (1856) to hard-wearing work trousers or overalls (1872, in an Australian newspaper),^[2] and in the 20th century, first in Britain, to overalls with a bib over the chest held up by shoulder straps (1930),^[2] now also a casual garment for women and children.^[10] In American English dungarees are usually heavy denim work trousers.^[10][8] An Anglo-Indian and Australian slang use of dungaree for "low, common" is recorded from 1852.^[12]

Timeline

• 1613 – the cloth, as dongerijns.^[3][2]
• 1856 – plural, sailors' trousers or overalls of dungaree.^[2] Etymonline dates the plural to 1868.^[4]
• 1872 – hard-wearing work trousers or overalls.^[2]
• 1930 – overalls with a bib and shoulder straps.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural; chiefly British) Overalls of heavy cotton, with a bib over the chest held up by straps over the shoulders: He wore paint-spattered dungarees in the studio.^[10][2]
2. (plural; chiefly US) Hard-wearing work trousers or overalls of blue denim or a similar heavy cotton.^[8][10][2]
3. (plural) The working uniform of sailors, made of blue dungaree.^[2]

Related words

• dungaree
• denim

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com