garb

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noun \ ˈgärb \

Updated on: 11 Sep 2017

Definition of garb

1 obsolete :fashion, manner

2 a :a style of apparel

b :outward form :appearance

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Examples of garb in a Sentence

decided to clothe himself in traditional Scottish garb for the celebration
a fable about personal redemption presented in the garb of a conventional horror story

Recent Examples of garb from the Web

The show at Les Arts Décoratifs overtly acknowledges Dior’s royalist nostalgia, juxtaposing some of the most lavish gowns with 18th-century portraits of noblewomen dressed in oddly similar garb.

— rhonda garelick, The Cut, "Why It Matters That Melania Wore Dior in Paris Last Week," 21 July 2017
They are dressed in muted, vaguely psychedelic garb, ascots and striped trousers.

— erin blakemore, Longreads, "Our Zombies, Ourselves: An Undead Reading List," 20 July 2017
Cooper, a cowboy re-enactor, and Oliver dressed in cowboy garb Friday morning and distributed fliers with information about the upcoming event to Main Street businesses.

— maureen robertson, Ramona Sentinel, "Oliver, Kiwanis work on Day of Cowboy transition," 19 July 2017
There will be on-street parking and a small garage for routine maintenance and repairs, as well as Harley garb for sale.

— ryan ori, chicagotribune.com, "Holy hog! Harley dealership planned across from Wrigley Field," 13 July 2017
J.A. Uniforms produces style-savvy workplace garb for 350 clients, including the Sedano’s supermarket chain, The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach and Coconut Bay Beach Resort & Spa in St. Lucia.

— jennifer lu, miamiherald, "For this family of immigrants, success lies in a uniform approach," 2 July 2017
Were the proprietors dressing their meat up in the culinary garb of other cultures to hide some inadequacy?

— andy staples, SI.com, "Where to eat, drink in Orlando," 30 June 2017
Lastly, head over to 6528 Cornell Avenue in Indianapolis for the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Run/Walk tonight from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Runners are encouraged to dress up with prizes for all who participate with their favorite Harry Potter garb.

— chris sims, Indianapolis Star, "Harry Potter turns 20: 6 ways to celebrate," 26 June 2017
At one point, pictures of him in Nazi garb circulated on the Internet.

— amanda erickson, Washington Post, "Prince Harry says no one in royal family really wants to wear the crown," 22 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'garb.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of garb

borrowed from Middle French & Italian; Middle French garbe "graceful contour, grace," borrowed from Italian garbo "grace, charm, good manners, form, outline of a ship's hull made from wood pieces," of uncertain origin

Note: If the sense "outline of a ship's hull" is prior to the more abstract senses, the modern Italian word probably continues an earlier etymon represented by (alleged) medieval Genoese dialect garibu in the sense "model of a hull," itself ultimately a loan from Arabic qālib "mold, shoemaker's last" (see caliber); details of attestation are thus far incompletely documented, however. An earlier hypothesis connecting garbo (and the related verb garbare "to be becoming to, please") to Germanic *garwjan- "to prepare, make ready" (presumably via Gothic; see ¹gear, yare) is questionable on semantic and phonetic grounds.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1599

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