A light wrapper or coat, usually of brown linen, to keep out the dust in travelling.
1864. G. A. Sala, Daily Telegraph, Oct. 13. (N.E.D.)
1870. The day after you left us Rose discovered your thin coat, which she called a “duster.” I had half a mind to confiscate it, it was such a good one.—J. R. Lowell, ‘Letters’ (1894), ii. 67–8. (N.E.D.)
1876. [The people] don’t have time to take their dusters off; they come in their dusters, they eat in their dusters, and to the best of my belief they sleep in their dusters.—N.Y. Tribune, Sept. 23 (Bartlett).
1883. A medley crowd of human beings, clad for the most part in brown holland coats, or “dusters,” rushes tumultuously into the tepid saloon.—D. Pidgeon, ‘An Engineer’s Holiday,’ p. 108 (Lond.).
