abba

noun

Father; religious superior; in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches, a title given to the bishops, and by the bishops to the patriarch; a title given to Jewish scholars in the Talmudic period.

1. A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
2. A loose-fitting sleeveless garment, made from aba or silk, worn by Arabs.
3. An outer garment made of the above, very simple in form, worn by the Arabs of the desert. The illustration shows such an aba, made of two breadths of stuff sewed together to make an oblong about four by nine feet.