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Definition 2024

byrnie ‎(plural byrnies)

(historical) A short chain mail shirt, covering from the upper arms to the upper thighs.
- 1972, John Gardner, Grendel, André Deutsch, page 97:
  Unferth stood beside him, his huge arms folded on his byrnie.
- 1992, Calvin B Kendall, Voyage to the Other World, University of Minnesota, page 19:
  The mail-coat, or byrnie, was made of iron links that probably were cut out of sheet metal with a die, or from flat hammered wire cut into short lengths.

short chain mail shirt