manel, noun

/maˈnel/
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, probably adaptation of Dutch manteljas caped great coat; but see also quotation 1913.
A black frock-coat worn by elders and deacons of the Dutch Reformed churches.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 309Manel, (F. mandille, footman’s cloak, great-coat; Lat. mantrellum, a cloak.) A dress-coat, a frock-coat.
1916 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays (1984) 239Dear old Vanny, you ought to have seen him in his long manel and tophat.
1927 Outspan 29 Apr. 17The figure which was that of an old man walked swiftly past him and in passing tugged at the coat-tails of the minister’s manel.
1950 H.C. Bosman in L. Abrahams Bekkersdal Marathon (1971) 11When Elder Landsman came back into the church he had a long black bottle half hidden under his manel.
1955 A. Delius Young Trav. in S. Afr. 107Oom Thys, who was one of the elders of the church, appeared very carefully groomed and dressed in his black manel, a tail-coat suit something like an undertaker’s.
1965 C. Van Heyningen Orange Days 92I was wearing a smart tweed coat and skirt that I had just bought in England — long tails at the back, like a ‘manel’.
1975 D.H. Strutt Clothing Fashions 213In the Pretoria Cultural History Museum there is an example of a frock coat (manel) of the ’thirties made of fine black melton cloth lined with linen.
A black frock-coat worn by elders and deacons of the Dutch Reformed churches.
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mandoor, nounn.maningi, adjectiveadj. & adverbadv.
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