Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COR-DE-LIER', n. [Fr. from corde, a girdle or cord worn by the order.]

A Franciscan friar; one of the order of religious founded by St. Francis; a gray friar. The Cordeliers wear a thick gray cloth, a little cowl, a chaperon, and a cloke, with a girdle of rope or cord, tied with three knots. – Encyc.