[san.be.ni.to] n, pl -tos [Sp sambenito, fr. San Benito St. Benedict of Nursia] (ca. 1560) 1: a sackcloth coat worn by penitents on being reconciled to the church
2: a Spanish Inquisition garment resembling a scapular and being either yellow with red crosses for the penitent or black with painted devils and flames for the impenitent condemned to an auto-da-fe