wardrobe
[wawr-drohb]
- a stock of clothes or costumes, as of a person or of a theatrical company.
- a piece of furniture for holding clothes, now usually a tall, upright case fitted with hooks, shelves, etc.
- a room or place in which to keep clothes or costumes.
- the department of a royal or other great household charged with the care of wearing apparel.
- wardrobe trunk.
- a department in a motion-picture or television studio in charge of supplying and maintaining costumes: Report to wardrobe right after lunch.
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- to provide with a wardrobe.
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Origin of wardrobe
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
appareldressertrunkclosetattirecupboardcommodelockerbuffetragschestbureauthreadsdudsclothingchiffonierensemblestrousseautogsExamples from the Web for wardrobe
Contemporary Examples
If I was to build a wardrobe fit for a president, I needed to know what I was working with.
He derived enormous satisfaction from some customers choosing to base the rest of their wardrobe around his socks.
The blame ultimately must fall on Kate's wardrobe team for failign to protect her from such continued and repeated embarrasments.
Jacqueline Kennedy helped change all that in the 1960s, with her unflappable chic and wardrobe full of haute couture.
He always wants to find little flourishes in her wardrobe that are her way of expressing herself in a rather conservative world.
Historical Examples
Mechanically she took from the wardrobe a hooded cloak, put it about her, and left the room.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Every rag of raiment that man has on he stole from my husband's wardrobe at the Hall.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
And there on the wardrobe shelves they lay throughout her visit.
A Writer's Recollections (In Two Volumes), Volume IIMrs. Humphry Ward
We found the Regent dressing in the vault he used as his wardrobe.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, CompleteDuc de Saint-Simon
They only kept a candle alight, standing on the ground behind the wardrobe.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
wardrobe
- a tall closet or cupboard, with a rail or hooks on which to hang clothes
- the total collection of articles of clothing belonging to one person
- the collection of costumes belonging to a theatre or theatrical company
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Word Origin
C14: from Old Northern French warderobe, from warder to guard + robe robe
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for wardrobe
n.
late 14c., "room where wearing apparel is kept," earlier "a private chamber" (c.1300), from Old North French warderobe, variant of Old French garderobe "place where garments are kept," from warder "to keep, guard" (see ward (v.)) + robe "garment" (see robe). Meaning "a person's stock of clothes for wearing" is recorded from c.1400. Sense of "movable closed cupboard for wearing apparel" is recorded from 1794. Meaning "room in which theatrical costumes are kept" is attested from 1711. Wardrobe malfunction is from 2004.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper