[A proper name repr. Heb. yōsē·ph, name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and of later Israelites, esp. of the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus Christ (St. Joseph); hence in derived uses.]
1. In allusion to the patriarch Joseph, Gen. xli. 48–57.
1849. E. B. Eastwick, Dry Leaves, 10. These evil Josephs raise the price of corn so high that the unfortunate poor are placed beyond hope, while the greedy Banyan fattens on the destruction of his fellowmen.
2. A long cloak, worn chiefly by women in the eighteenth century when riding, and on other occasions; it was buttoned all the way down the front and had a small cape. [See quot. 1708.]
1659. Caterpillers of this Nation anatomized, Joseph, a cloak.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. Alsatia, II. i. ad fin., Hide me, give me my Joseph.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 104. 2/1. Why is a great Coat call’d a Joseph? From the … upper Coat, which … Joseph left behind him.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xvi. Olivia would be drawn as an Amazon … dressed in a green joseph, richly laced with gold, and a whip in her hand.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 323. In the dear fashions of her youth she dress’d; A pea-green Joseph was her favourite vest.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Joseph, a very old fashioned riding coat for women, scarcely now to be seen.
1861. Geo. Eliot, Silas M., xi. Seated on a pillion, and attired in a drab joseph and a drab beaver-bonnet.
3. In names of flowers, as Joseph and Mary, Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis); Joseph’s coat (in ref. to Gen. xxxvii. 3), a cultivated variety of Amarantus tricolor, with variegated leaves; Joseph’s flower (in ref. to the bearded figure of St. Joseph in art), Goat’s-beard.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xvii. 167. This hearbe is now called … in English Goates barde, Iosephs floure,… and Go to bedde at Noone.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. ccxli. 596. Goates bearde is called … in low Dutch Iosephes bloemen … in English Goats beard, Iosephs flower.
1866. Treas. Bot., I. 48/1. In the gardens of the Southern United States, these hues are so richly developed as to have procured for it [Amaranthus tricolor] the appellation of Joseph’s Coat.
