clothe
Americanverb
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to dress or attire (a person)
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to provide with clothing or covering
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to conceal or disguise
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to endow or invest
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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half-clothedadjective
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underclothedadjective
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preclotheverb (used with object)
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well-clothedadjective
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reclotheverb (used with object)
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has cladperfect 3rd person singular
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has clothedperfect 3rd person singular
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have clothedperfect
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have cladperfect
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am clothingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been clothingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are clothingprogressive
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is clothingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been clothingperfect progressive
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clothessingular 3rd person
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clothingparticiple
Past
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had clothedperfect
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had cladperfect
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were clothingprogressive plural
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had been clothingperfect progressive
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was clothingprogressive singular
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clothedparticiple
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clothedsimple
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cladparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of clothe
before 950; Middle English clothen, Old English clāthian, derivative of clāth cloth
Explanation
To clothe someone is to give them something to wear, or to dress them in clothing. If you clothe your dog in cute outfits, you may traumatize him for life. You can clothe yourself, or someone else — for example, you might clothe yourself in black for a relative's funeral or clothe yourself in sequins and feathers for the school dance. You can also figuratively clothe someone or something, lending them a sense of power or respectability. Clothe shares a root with clothing and cloth, the Old English claþ, "cloth or sail," and also "woven material to wrap around oneself."
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
