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Brazilian president Lula da Silva wearing a poncho
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanishponcho, from Quechuapunchu. In sense “rubber rain poncho”, attested 1845, used for non-South American garments in the United States and England from 1850s, popularized by US Western expeditions and military from 1850s, particularly after World War II (1940s).
A simple garment, made from a rectangle of cloth, with a slit in the middle for the head.
1975, Margery Turner Fisher, Who's Who in Children's Books, page 203:
Garibaldi, with his cowboy's poncho, red shirt and the black ostrich feathers in his wide hat […]
2011, Bruce N. Anderson, Wingtips Under a Bolivian Poncho, page 130:
It was a gringo in a poncho. It was not really accurate to his suits worn today, but Julia would understand the symbolism that he was adapting to the culture and expectations while far away from home.
A similar waterproof garment, today typically of rubber with a hood.
1845, William Jameson, “Botanical Excursion to Salinas, an Indian Village on Chimborazo”, in The London Journal of Botany, volume 4, page 382:
[…] spreading over my bedding an indian-rubber poncho to exclude the rain.
I found it necessary while doing guard to cover myself with my India-rubber poncho, to prevent my clothes from becoming saturated with water.
1859, Randolph Barnes Marcy, The Prairie Traveler, page 39:
The following list of articles is deemed a sufficient outfit for one man upon a three months’ expedition, viz.: […] 1 gutta percha poncho
1858, “Robbery in a Railway Carriage” (1858 March 29), Edmund Burke ed., Annual Register (collected 1859), March p. 59:
when near the old church in Manchester he was run against by a man whom he supposed to be a drunken man, who was dressed in a poncho overcoat.
1888, William Eleroy Curtis, The capitals of Spanish America, page 505:
It is about the size of the rubber poncho used in the United States, […]
2001, Michael Rutter, Camping Made Easy, 2nd edition, page 98:
If you have to hike all day in a poncho, your pants will be wet thigh-high before long (never mind how fast you'll get wet if you have to go through wet brush or grass).
