Also 6 cabie, cabaia, 7 cabbay, cabay(e, -ya. [Ultimately of Pers. or Arab. origin. The forms cabie, cabbay are perh. directly a. Pers. qabāy; cabaia, cabaya are from Pg., whence also F. cabaye. Kabaya is immed. from Malay, whence also Du. kabaaj.] A light loose tunic such as is commonly worn in the East; now spec. that worn in Malay countries by native women and by Europeans in dishabille.
1585. R. Fitch, in Hakluyt’s Voy. (1810), II. 386. The King is apparelled with a Cabie made like a shirt tied with strings on one side.
1598. trans. Linschoten’s Voy., 70. They wear sometimes when they go abroad a thinne cotton [? or] linnen gowne called Cabaia.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 81. Attiring himselfe in red, his Tulipant, Cabbay, Boots, Scabberd.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Mandelslo’s Trav. E. I., 64.
1883. Mrs. Bishop, Sk. Malay Penins., iii. in Leisure Ho., 81/1. Their lower garment, or sarong, reaching from the waist to the ankles,… above which is worn a loose-sleeved garment called a kabaya, reaching to the knees.
