Definition

Noun: 1. A loose gown worn by women in the 17th and 18th centuries: A mantua is a specific type of woman's garment, typically open at the front to reveal an underskirt. It was fashionable from the late 17th century through much of the 18th century.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The portrait shows the duchess wearing an elaborate silk mantua.
  • In historical dramas set in the 1700s, the female characters often wear mantuas.
  • The museum's costume collection includes a beautifully preserved 18th-century mantua.

Advanced Usage

• Historical and academic context: The term is primarily used in historical, costume, or fashion studies when describing period clothing. It is not used for modern garments.
  • The evolution of the mantua into the robe à la française is a key topic in 18th-century fashion history.

Variants and Related Words

• Mantua-maker (noun, historical): An archaic term for a dressmaker or a maker of gowns, specifically of mantuas.
  • In Jane Austen's time, a woman might visit the mantua-maker for a new dress.

Different Meanings

• Mantua (proper noun): A city in northern Italy. This is a completely separate meaning and is always capitalized.
  • Shakespeare's play The Two Gentlemen of Verona is set in Verona and Mantua.

Synonyms

• Gown (in a historical context)
• Robe (in a historical context)
• Stomacher gown (a related, more specific term)

Notes

• There are no common idioms or phrasal verbs associated with the clothing term "mantua."

Noun

1. loose gown of the 17th and 18th centuries