abas

abas — noun

1. a long, loose cloak without sleeves, traditionally worn by men in Arab countries

1.noun
Definition

a long, loose cloak without sleeves, traditionally worn by men in Arab countries over their everyday clothes

Example

Asher bought a new white aba at the Amman market before the wedding.

collocation: white aba for formal occasions

The old merchant pulled his wool aba tighter against the cold desert wind.

Common collocations
  • wear an aba
  • white aba
  • black aba
  • wool aba
  • traditional aba
Synonyms
  • cloak

    a cloak usually fastens at the neck and may have a hood; an aba is open at the front

  • robe

    a robe is a broader term for any long loose garment and often has sleeves

  • caftan

    a caftan is similar but usually has long sleeves and a front opening, and is often decorative

Usage Note

Refers to a specific garment from Arab and Middle Eastern cultures. Not the same as the acronym ABA (American Bar Association or Applied Behavior Analysis).

Common Mistakes

She worked for the ABA in Chicago.' (when talking about the garment).
She bought an aba at the souk in Dubai.
ABA (written in capitals) refers to organisations like the American Bar Association; aba (lowercase) is the traditional cloak.

2. a coarse cloth made by weaving together strands of camel hair or goat hair, trad

2.noun
Definition

a coarse cloth made by weaving together strands of camel hair or goat hair, traditionally used for making Middle Eastern cloaks and tents

Example

Reema watched the weaver turn rough camel hair into soft aba cloth.

collocation: soft aba cloth — adjective + fabric name

The tailor said aba fabric lasts longer than cotton in the dry heat.

aba fabric + comparative: lasts longer than

Common collocations
  • aba cloth
  • aba fabric
  • woven aba

Usage Note

This sense names the material, not the garment. The fabric is named after the aba cloak because it was the traditional cloth used to make it.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

The noun aba refers specifically to a sleeveless, open-front robe from Arab cultures. A cloak, by contrast, typically fastens at the neck and may have a hood — it suggests a more European garment worn for warmth or concealment. Robe is a broader term covering any long loose garment; it often has sleeves and lacks the cultural specificity of aba. A caftan is a similar loose garment from the Middle East and North Africa, but it usually has long sleeves and a front opening, and is often richly decorated. A djellaba is a long hooded robe from Morocco — closer to a cloak than an aba, with a pointed hood called a qob. The key distinction: if you picture a simple, open, sleeveless robe worn over everyday clothes by men in the Gulf region, that is an aba.

cloak ↗robe ↗caftandjellaba

Etymology

ArabicEnglish

The word aba comes from Arabic عَبَاء (ʿabāʾ), referring to the traditional loose cloak worn across the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions. The fabric sense developed from the material used to make the garment — aba cloth was the coarse camel-hair or goat-hair weave used for these cloaks and for desert tents. The unrelated acronym ABA (for organisations like the American Bar Association or concepts like Applied Behavior Analysis) is a separate word formed from initials.

First known use

1792

1792, in the meaning defined at sense 1