Dictionary

tunicle en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtjuːnɪkəl/

Etymology

Latin tunicula, diminutive of tunica (“tunic”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A small tunic.
2. A vestment worn by a subdeacon at celebrations of the Eucharist.
   • He longed for the minor sacred offices, to be vested with the tunicle of subdeacon at high mass […]. 1916, James Joyce, chapter IV, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:
   • In illustrating his views on the Popish tendency of these rubrics, the rev. gentleman particularly referred to the use of the alb, and cope, and tunicle, by the clergy in the discharge of their official duties. 1845 January 11, The Times, p.5 col. D:
3. A tunica; a membrane or membranous sheath of skin.

Forms