The Collaborative International Dictionary
Kaross \Ka*ross"\, n. [Native name.] A native garment or rug of skin sewed together in the form of a square. [South Africa]
The wants of a native . . . are confined to a kaross
(skin cloak) or some pieces of cotton cloth.
--James
Bryce.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A treated animal-skin cloak with the hair still left on. 2 A treated animal-skin blanket with the hair left on.
Wikipedia
A kaross is a cloak made of sheepskin, or the hide of other animals, with the hair left on. It is properly confined to the coat of skin without sleeves and used to be worn by the Khoikhoi and Bushmen / San peoples of South Africa. These karosses became replaced by a blanket. Their chiefs wore karosses of the skin of the wild cat, leopard or caracal. The word is also loosely applied to the cloaks of leopard-skin worn by the chiefs and principal men of several southern African tribes. Kaross is probably either a genuine Khoikhoi word, or else an adaptation of the Dutch kuras , a cuirass. In a vocabulary dated 1673 "karos" is described as a "corrupt Dutch word."
These days the kaross is a common tourist item, being made of various animal hides including cowhide. The term is loosely applied in modern times to fur blankets sold as bedding. These "karosses" often have panels of different types of animal fur sewn into them in order to make a decorative pattern.
Usage examples of "kaross".
Hearing him from under my kaross I bethought me that he had really grown old at last, who for the moment evidently forgot the part which this very assegai had played a few months before in the Vale of Bones.
I take off the kaross of genuine gemsbok and, using gui fiber, tie it in front of my hut.
For many seconds after waking, Juba believed that the screams of the women and the whimpering of the children were all part of her nightmares, and she pulled the fur kaross over her head.
Then there was a crash as the door to the hut was broken open, a rush of bodies into the dark interior, and Juba came fully awake and threw off the kaross.
Jim wrapped her in a sodden fur kaross and gave her a small stick of chagga, almost the last of their food.
While I was wondering vaguely who could have done this, Hans climbed on to the step, carrying two karosses which he had borrowed or stolen, and asked if I was comfortable.
When they woke each dawn, their skin blankets, that Sabah called karosses, were soaked with dew.
Then, when the others rolled in their karosses, Hal took Sukeena aside and showed her the great seal of the Nautonnier and the locket.
He led his own girl to the rear of the hut, where a pile of soft karosses was laid and a pair of carved wooden head rests stood side by side.
My parents marrying me to Tuka before I was ready because, paying bride service, he brought my mother a new kaross.
He had crawled off the game path, under a low bush out of the sun, and he had pulled the light kaross of monkey-skins over his head, the way a man settles down to sleep, or to die.
Firstly he spread a kaross of silver jackal pelts on the earth floor and then in the centre of the fur he placed a small steel anvil at which he had watched Zouga shaping horse-shoes and working the iron hoops to repair the wagon wheels.
They pattered against the thatched walls, stung the naked skins of the watching Matabele, kicked little puffs of grey ash as they fell into the fire, and scattered on the lustrous fur of the silver jackal kaross, shining there like live fish in the net.