Green’s Dictionary of Slang

camesa n.

a shirt.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
c.1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1791		‘Flash Lang.’ in Confessions of Thomas Mount 18: A shirt, a smisk.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1812		Byron Childe Harold canto II line 653: Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote?
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 571: There are coves of cases,* and others in the vicinity of the Theatres, who live by letting out dresses for the evening, where they may be accommodated from a camesa† to a richly embroidered full-dress court suit. [† Camesa — A shirt or shift].
1827		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 11Feb. 853/1: Jem Ward and Jem Burns wound up the sports of the day in their Camezas.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 188: The cameza you have on seems a fine one.
1833		‘A Shove In The Mouth’ Regular Thing and No Mistake 61: I toddled to see you in trib; And brought belly-timber, with a little of blue, / Stowed under my camesa and bib.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 178: With my fawnied famms, and my onions gay, my thimble of ridge, and my driz (laced) kemesa.
1847		Australian 19 Nov. 3/5: The islands [...] are said to be known by the names of Tanna and Kemeza which, [...] being duly translated into the Colonial Dialect; signify respectively, Sixpence and Shirt.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 26 Feb. 1/4: So I gets cummeser, cos of them are crums you no’s, and these ere crabs, watch, and togs, so I’m a Svell un vith a caser in this ere cly.
1850		Bell’s Life in Sydney 2 Feb. 3/2: Ann Murphy, a picker up of unconsidered trifles [,,,] took from one lady a camesa.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 16: CAMESA, or caneza, a shirt or chemise.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. [as cit. 1859].
1861		Bell’s Life in Sydney 7 Dec. 3/2: Harry [...] set out on a creuse [sic] in George-street, where his fancy was captivated by the ‘kicksies’ and ‘kimiser’.
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5: He was wearing a frock coat of which he had made himself a cant at somebody else’s expense, and below [...] nothing but his camesa and kickseys.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 14: Camesor, a shirt, or chemise.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 156: novak wears a baggy blank camisha, skintight jacket [...] and off-blank slip-ons.