Dorcas Society, the name given to an association of ladies who make or provide clothes for necessitous families. The name is taken from Acts, ix. 39: 'And all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.'
Dorcas Society
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 4: Dionysius to Friction, p. 60
Source scan(s): p. 0069