grey cloth worn by shepherds.

Of, belonging to, connected with, or characteristic of a black person; spec. (a) designating hard-wearing, durable clothes and fabrics…

cloth formerly used to make clothes for paupers (cf. blue, n. 2b).

a kind of felt.

any hard-wearing, durable cloth designed to be worn by black slaves (cf. Negro cloth at Negro, adj. 3(a)).

As the material for the gown worn by a junior counsel. Hence rarely, A ‘stuff-gownsman’, i.e. a junior counsel, as distinguished from a ‘silk’ (see…