subs. (old).—1. A red cloak worn by ladies circa 1740 and later. [From the colour and shape which suggested a cardinal’s vestment.]
1755. The Connoisseur, No. 62. That fashionable cloak … which indeed is with great propriety styled the CARDINAL.
1755. The World, No. 127. I have made no objection to their (the ladies) wearing the CARDINAL, though it be a habit of popish etymology, and was, I am afraid, first invented to hide the sluttishness of French dishabille.
1881. BESANT and RICE, The Chaplain of the Fleet, pt. 1, ch. iv. In the windows of which were hoods, CARDINALS, sashes, pinners, and shawls.
2. (general).—Mulled red wine.
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xv. He goes up, and finds the remains of the supper, tankards full of egg-flip and CARDINAL, and a party playing at vingt-un.
3. In pl. (streets’).—Shoeblacks. [In allusion to the red tunics of some London brigades. That stationed in the City is now better known as the CITY REDS.]
1889. T. MACKAY on ‘Shoeblacks,’ in Times, Aug., p. 132. From that hour the Shoeblack Brigade has been firmly established in London … costermongers called them CARDINALS.
4. (American).—A lobster; from its colour when cooked. Jules Janin once made a curious blunder and called the lobster le cardinal de la mer. CARDINAL HASH = a lobster salad.
5. (common).—A new [1890] variety of red.
