FROCK

frock, originally a long, loose gown with broad sleeves, more especially that worn by members of the religious orders. the word is derived from the o. fr. _froc_, of somewhat obscure origin; in medieval lat. _froccus_ appears also as _floccus_, which, if it is the original, as du cange suggests (_literula mutata_), would connect the word with "flock" (q.v.), properly a tuft of wool. another suggestion refers the word to the german _rock_, a coat (cf. "rochet"), which in some rare instances is found as _hrock_. the formal stripping off of the frock became part of the ceremony of degradation or deprivation in the case of a condemned monk; hence the expression "to unfrock" (med. lat. _defrocare_, fr. _defroquer_) used of the degradation of monks and of priests from holy orders. in the middle ages "frock" was also used of a long loose coat worn by men and of a coat of mail, the "frock of mail." in something of this sense the word survived into the 19th century for a coat with long skirts, now called the "frock coat." the word in now chiefly used in english for a child's or young girl's dress, of body and skirt, but is frequently used of a woman's dress. du cange (_glossarium_, s.v. _flocus_) quotes an early use of the word for a woman's garment (_miracula s. udalrici_, ap. mabillon, _acta sanctorum benedict_, saec. v. p. 466). here a woman, possessed of a devil, is cured, and sends her garments to the tomb of the saint, and a dalmatic is ordered to be made out of the flocus or _frocus_. "frock" also appears in the "smock frock," once the typical outer garment of the english peasant. it consists of a loose shirt of linen or other material, worn over the other clothes and hanging to about the knee; its characteristic feature is the "smocking," a puckered honeycomb stitching round the neck and shoulders.