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Glossary of Academic Regalia Terms & Definitions


ALPACA: A smooth-surfaced material with the gloss of silk.

BAND: A type of hood trimming consisting of a piece of material sewn on to the inside or the outside of a hood a short distance away from the edge.

BANDS: Decoration worn at the throat, usually under the gown and usually made from white linen or cotton. Bands may be long and narrow and divided into two sections or they may be square and undivided. The undivided type may be trimmed with white lace and may be either plain or pleated.

BENGALINE: A firm light-weight material having a silk warp and woolen filling giving a ribbed effect.

BINDING: Type of hood trimming.

BONNET: A type of hat having a soft round crown and a stiff flat brim. The bonnet is often trimmed, between crown and brim with gold cord and tassels, but the Oxford bonnet has a black ribbon between crown and brim. The bonnet, however, in many of the newer university foundations, is often trimmed with coloured cord and tassels. The bonnet, often made from black velvet, is the distinctive headgear of doctors in many of the Universities of the British Commonwealth, Eire and the Republic of South Africa.

BOUND: A method of trimming a hood by which a piece of material is sewn over the anterior or the posterior side, or both, of a simple-shaped hood, or over the cowl or tippet, or both, of a full-shaped hood. The sewn-on piece of material - the binding - is thus partly on the inside and partly on the outside of the hood. If the hood is lined, the inner part of the binding covers part of the lining.

BROADCLOTH: A smooth soft-finished closely woven woolen material with a nap.

BROCADE: A rich fabric on which appear raised formal floral or figurative patterns. The ground fabric is usually silk and the raised designs may be of silk of the same colour as the background or of gold or silver threads. Unless specified to the contrary, in this work the term brocade means that the raised design is of the same colour as the ground.

BURGON: The term used to indicate a particular style of simple-shaped hood.

CANTERBURY CAP: A flat-topped soft cloth hat with a round headband deeper at the back than at the front.

CAPE: [1] A sleeveless full-length garment, or [2] a shorter than full-length addition to the gown, attached at the shoulders and reaching to either the elbows or the wrists.

CASSIMERE: A soft smooth-surfaced woolen fabric.

CHEVRON: A v-shaped device used on the lining of the hoods of certain Universities. In academic usage, the term means that the device has the point at the bottom (ie. the opposite of the heraldic figure termed the chevron).

CINCTURE: A plain or pleated band of material worn round the waist over a cassock or similar garment. In France the cincture has a large buckle and two long streamers which hang down in front.

CLOTH: As used in this work the word cloth means a particular type of material woven from wool and having a smooth surface and a close dense texture. It must be specially noted that in this work cloth is not synonymous with material or fabric.

CORDED: Material described as being corded; has in it a strongly marked pattern of parallel lines or ribs.

COWL: Part of a full-shaped hood.

CRAVATTE: Decoration worn at the throat, usually under the gown, consisting of frilled or pleated lace or frilled or pleated white material trimmed with lace.

CUFFS: A band of coloured material, 6 to 8 inches deep, sewn on to the outside of the sleeves at the bottom on an Oxford pattern doctorate gown.

DAMASK: A material of silk, wool, linen or cotton having in it a pattern formed by the particular process by which this type of material is woven.

DEXTER: A heraldic term indicating the right-hand side of a chain of office or medallion from the point of view of the wearer. It is thus the left-hand side from the point of view of the person looking at the article being worn. The same term is used to indicate the side of a coat-of-arms which appears on the left as one looks at the shield.

DOCTORS 'HONORIS CAUSA': See honorary degrees.

EDGED: A method of trimming a hood by which a piece of material is sewn on to the outside of the hood in such a manner that one edge of the sewn-on material is flush with the edge of the hood.

EDGING: Type of hood-trimming. See edged.

EPITOGE: [1] In Laval and Montreal Universities, a type of garment resembling a hood which is worn over the gown and hanging down the back, or [2] in France, a type of scarf, trimmed with fur and worn over the left shoulder of the gown.

FACED: A method of trimming a hood by which a piece of material is sewn on to the inside in such a manner that one edge of the sewn-on material is flush with the edge of the hood. If the hood is lined, the facing is placed on top of the lining.

FACING: [1] Type of hood trimming (see faced), or [2] a type of trimming found on many academic gowns and consisting of a turned-back portion of the gown down each side in front, or a piece of material sewn on to each side of the gown in front. A facing may be of the same colour and material as the gown, or of a different material but the same colour, or of a different material and colour from that of the gown. Unless it is stated in this work that the facing continues round the neck. It is to be understood that the facing commences at the top of each side of the gown in front and runs the full length of each side. Certain gowns, particularly the Oxford pattern doctorate gown, may be faced on each sleeve with the same material as the front facings.

FULL-SHAPED : A general term used to describe those types of hoods which have a cowl and tippet like the Cambridge, London, Aberdeen, Oxford doctorate and Toronto doctorate hoods.

GARLAND: A type of degree insignia used in certain of the Universities in Ceylon, and consisting of a circlet hung round the neck with some type of decoration depending from the bottom of the garland and resting on the chest in front.

GIMP: A special type of black lace used to trim certain gowns at Oxford University. This type of lace is also used by certain other universities.

GOWN: The basic article of academic dress, the sleeves and back of the garment being pleated or gathered into a yoke. A gown may be worn open or closed in front and is of varying length. A gown may have the fronts turned back to form facings, or may be faced down each side in front, or down each side in front and round the neck, with another colour or material The shape of the sleeves of a gown is often its most distinctive feature.

CROSGRAIN: A type of material with a silk or rayon warp and a heavy cotton filling which produces a pronounced ribbed effect.

HONORARY DEGREE: A degree conferred in recognition of achievement, merit or public service and without the recipient having had to fulfill the usual prerequisites for the awarding of the degree.

HOOD: The form of degree indicating insignia most commonly used in the universities of the British Commonwealth, Eire and the Republic of South Africa.

JABOT: See cravatte.

JOHN KNOX CAP: A soft square cap made from black velvet and worn by the Doctors of certain Scottish Universities.

LACE: As used in this work when referring to the trimming of gowns, lace is to be taken to mean bands of varying width of solid gold or silver metallic material, or black material, into which a distinctive design is woven.

LINED: A method of trimming a hood by which the inside of the shell is completely covered with material of a different colour or texture from that of the outside of the hood.

LINED AND BOUND: A method of trimming a hood by which the lining is carried over one or both of the sides of a simple-shaped hood, or over the cowl or tippet or both of a full-shaped hood, to form a narrow edging of the lining on the outside.

LINING: A type of hood trimming. See lined.

LIRIPIPE: The narrow tail-like portion of a full-shaped hood.

MOIRE: See watered.

MORTAR-BOARD: A distinctive type of headgear consisting of a portion shaped to fit the head and a stiff square flat top. There is usually a tassel attached to the centre of the top.

NECKBAND: That part of the hood which keeps the whole garment in place when worn. The neckband passes over the head and rests on the shoulders and top of the chest. Some hoods have a separate sewn-on neckband and on some hoods it is cut as part of the hood.

OAK-LEAF LACE: gold or silver lace into which is woven a design of oak-leaves and acorns.

ORNAMENTS: The term used to describe the specially made horizontal or vertical decorations used on the gowns of certain high officers in many of the universities of the British Commonwealth, Eire and the Republic of South Africa.

PANAMA: A light-weight all wool material

PLATE LACE: Gold lace which is specially made to trim the gowns of the Chancellors of many universities in the British Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. This lace has a distinctive design of ellipses woven into it.

PILEUS: A round brimless hat with a flat top in the centre of which is a button.

PIPED: [1] A method of trimming a hood by which a cord is sewn against the edge of the hood, or [2] a method of trimming a hood by which a piece of material is let in between the shell and the lining.

POPLIN: A material made from silk and worsted and having a corded or ribbed appearance.

PRINCETTA: A light-weight stuff material.

RAYON: A fine smooth material having an appearance similar to silk. Rayon is made from synthetic fibres.

RIBBED: See corded.

RUSSEL CORD: A material having a marked corded or ribbed effect and made from a mixture of cotton and wool.

SALTIRE: A heraldic term used to indicate a St. Andrew's Cross or an arrangement of two things in a St. Andrew's cross-X form.

SATIN: A silk material having a shiny surface on the face and a dull back.

SHELL: The basic part of a hood on to which the various types of trimming are sewn.

SHOT: A term used to describe a material in which there are contrasting or changing colour effects. These changing effects are produced by weaving together warp and weft threads of different colours, or by dyeing a material made from two fibres each of which reacts differently to the dyes.

SILK: Strictly speaking, silk is a material produced from thread made from the covering of the cocoon of the silkworm. in practice, when a university specifies silk for its gowns and hoods some type of artificial silk material made from synthetic fibres will frequently be used. Silk material is frequently given a ribbed or corded effect.

SIMPLE: A term used to describe a particular shape of hood.

SINISTER: A heraldic term indicating the left-hand side of a chain of office or medallion from the point of view of the wearer. It is thus the right-hand side from the point of view of one looking at the article being worn. The same term is used to indicate the side of a coat-of arms which appears to the right as one looks at the shield.

SLEEVE-LININGS: A term used to describe the coloured lining of any long pointed sleeve, particularly the sleeves on a Cambridge pattern doctorate gown. On the Cambridge pattern doctorate gown the sleeves are reversed near the level of the elbow in front and the triangle of the lining thus formed is held in place by a cord and button.

STRINGS: Two pieces of ribbon - each approximately 2 inches wide and 30 inches long - one of each of which is sewn inside at the top of each side in front of certain gowns.

STUFF: A term used to indicate a material which does not contain any silk or silk-like fibres in its composition.

TAFFETA: A fine smooth silk material which has a lustrous or shiny surface on both sides.

TIPPET: That part of a full-shaped hood which lies against the back when the hood is worn and over which the cowl hangs open.

TRENCHER: Alternative name for a mortar-board. See morter-board.

TUFT: A large soft round bunch of threads in the centre of the crown of certain types of headgear, sometimes called a pom-pom.

VELVET: A silk material which is characterized by having on the face a soft dense pile while the back is plain.

VELVETEEN: A material made from cotton and which is otherwise similar to velvet.

WATERED: A term used to describe material which has in it a pattern of irregular wavy lines.

YOKE: That part of a gown which covers the shoulders of the wearer and into which the back and sleeves are pleated or gathered. The fronts of the gown also hang from the yoke. It is often necessary, or convenient, to distinguish between the front yoke and the back yoke of the gown.

Excerpts from 'Academic Dress And Insignia Of The World', Hugh Smith

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