Word of the Day

: October 27, 2017

wardrobe

noun WOR-drohb

What It Means

1 a : a room or closet where clothes are kept

b : a receptacle for clothes : clothespress

c : a large trunk in which clothes may be hung upright

2 a : a collection of wearing apparel (as of one person or for one activity)

b : a collection of stage costumes and accessories

3 : the department of a royal or noble household entrusted with the care of wearing apparel, jewels, and personal articles

wardrobe in Context

Over the years, Sandra has managed to acquire a large and varied wardrobe.

"Stylists will be on hand to guide shoppers to a personalized wardrobe, which customers can then order online to be delivered to the store that same day." — Travis M. Andrews, The Los Angeles Times, 13 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

There is a lot of word history packed into wardrobe. The word was borrowed by Middle-English speakers from a variant of Anglo-French garderobe. A combination of garder and robe, garderobe itself has been borrowed into English as a synonym of wardrobe. If the roots of garderobe look familiar, it is because they are the source of a number of different English words. Garder has given us the verbs guard and ward. And French robe, of course, is the source of the English robe and shares its own origins with the English verbs rob and reave (a synonym of plunder). If this connection seems odd, it might help to know that robe can be traced back to Germanic origins related to the Old High German words roub ("booty" or "looted clothing") and roubōn ("to rob").