old gown

old gown

English

Noun

old gown (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, slang) smuggled tea
   • 1879, John Owens, Plain Papers Relating to the Excise Branch of the Inland Revenue Department, From 1621 to 1878 (page 444)

     […] their horses loaded with 150 to 200 lbs. of “old gown” (smuggled tea) […]

   • 1883, S. William Beck, Gloves, Their Annals and Associations (page 165)

     […] at this time there was a very general leaning towards cheap brandy or tobacco; "old gown," as smuggled tea was called, was in general request, […]

References

• 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary