Definition of "serge"

Lucy, who had only seen her in either the large loose wrapping dress of serge, or in the quaint simplicity of the Puritanic garb, then so general in England, could not restrain an exclamation of admiration as she returned to their chamber.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 110

What I noticed most strongly was his smell, of hair oil and serge and cigarette smoke, and something else, something intimate and sour and wholly, shockingly other.

1993, John Banville, Ghosts