Sway’īyah: (Arabic: sā’ah: an hour in time or a watch, synonyms: Abā, ‘abāyah, ‘abāh, ‘abāt, Dafah, Bisht or mishlaḥ ), diminutive term to mean short hours or intervals. In the UAE, colloquially, it is applied to men’s style cloak (Bisht) when draped off the head by women, since it was traditionally worn only for certain rare occasions. However, with oil wealth, the article evolved into more elaborate silk versions.

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