lava-lava

la·va·la·va

or la·va-la·va (lä′və-lä′və)

A garment consisting of a rectangular piece of printed cloth tied loosely around the waist that is worn by Polynesians and especially Samoans.

[Samoan lāvalava, to put on clothes, clothes, from reduplication of Proto-Polynesian *lawa, to bind.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lava-lava

(Clothing & Fashion) a draped skirtlike garment of printed cotton or calico worn by Polynesians

[Samoan]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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References in classic literature ?

Then he turned his attention to the three house-boys, cornering Ornfiri in the kitchen and rushing him against the hot stove, stripping the lava-lava from Lalaperu when that excited youth climbed a veranda-post, and following Viaburi on top the billiard- table, where the battle raged until Joan managed a rescue.

They had been down to the Balesuna making an alligator trap, and, instead of trousers, were clad in lava-lavas that flapped gracefully about their stalwart limbs.

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Other blacks there were on board, from unheard-of far places, and when the white man spoke to them, they tore the long feather from Mauki's hair, cut that same hair short, and wrapped about his waist a lava-lava of bright yellow calico.