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barvel n also barbel [phonetics unavailable]. OED ~ (1878-83);
EDD sb 2 K Co; DAE barvel2 N E local (1629-), Fisheries of U
S i, 131; cp MED barm 2: barm fel 'leather apron' (1450-75). A leather, canvas
or oil-skin apron, reaching from breast to knees, worn when catching fish or esp when
processing the catch ashore; hence a home-made domestic apron.
[(c1710) 1895 PROWSE 22 A View of a Stage & also ye manner of
Fishing for, Curing & Drying Cod at Newfoundland.] [1843] Nfld Indicator 18
Nov, p. 3 [advertisement] English and Irish Calfskins, Kip, Cordovan, Morocco, and Patent
Leather Binding and Lining Skins, Barvels, Linseed Oil. 1866 WILSON 210 The women at the
splitting-table have each a leather apron, called a barvel, which fits to the neck and
covers the dress. 1895 J A Folklore viii, 27 ~ sometimes pronounced barbel,
a tanned sheepskin used by fishermen, and also by splitters, as an apron to keep the
legs dry. 1917 Christmas Echo 18 Their lines are reeled up and their barvels
thrown aside. 1937 DEVINE 7 Barbel. An apron of sheep's skin, used in splitting fish in
the stage. Also used to keep the front of the body dry in catching fish in the early
days. P 19-55 All the barbels I have seen were made of cloth which had been oiled two or
three times to make it waterproof. [1959] 1965 PEACOCK (ed) i, 101 "Tom Bird's Dog": They
say that you were slightly rigged with your barvel hanging slack. T 88-64 When you [used]
sawdust on your floor, and your mother put on a barbel [a brin apron] and scrubbed the
floor, that's not coming to pass those days, is it? T 94/5-64 The name was barbels. It's
like a big apron—just went over their head like that. T 148-65 He fit me up with a
barbel [to] go fishing. 1975 BUTLER 62 In these times fishermen did not wear rubber
clothes, as they do today. They wore jackets made from calico and oiled with linseed oil.
Instead of oil pants they wore a large apron extending below the knees ... called a
barvel.
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