Word of the Day

: July 11, 2011

raiment

noun RAY-munt

What It Means

: clothing, garments

raiment in Context

"On their arrival the station was lively with straw-hatted young men, welcoming young girls who bore a remarkable family likeness to their welcomers, and who were dressed up in the brightest and lightest of raiment." -- From Thomas Hardy’s 1895 novel Jude the Obscure

Did You Know?

If you seek a fancy word to describe the clothes on your back, you have no shortage of colorful options. There's "apparel" and "attire," certainly, as well as "garments." "Habiliments" and "vestments" suggest clothes of a particular profession (as in "a clergyman’s vestments"), while "garb" is effective for describing clothes of a particular style (as in "traditional Scottish garb"). If slang is more your game, try "duds," "rags," or "threads." "Raiment" tends to appear mostly in classical contexts, though it pops up from time to time in contemporary English from authors looking to add a touch of formality. "Raiment" derives from Middle English, where it was short for "arrayment," from the verb "arrayen" ("to array").