clothe
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English clothen, from Old English clāþian (“to clothe”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþōną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to adhere to, stick”). Cognate with Dutch kleden, German kleiden, Swedish kläda, after apocope klä. See also cloth, clad.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkləʊð/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkloʊð/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊð
Verb
clothe (third-person singular simple present clothes, present participle clothing, simple past and past participle clothed or (archaic) clad)
- (transitive) To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing.
- to feed and clothe a family; to clothe oneself extravagantly
- c. 1590-92, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act IV, scene ii:
- Go with me to clothe you as becomes you.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Proverbs 23:21:
- For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
- 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: B. Collins, for F Newbery, , →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, →OCLC:
- The naked every day he clad, / When he put on his clothes.
- (figurative) To cover or invest, as if with a garment.
- to clothe somebody with authority or power
- 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: , London: James Brackstone, , →OCLC:
- language in which they can clothe their thoughts
- 1726, John Dyer, Grongar Hill:
- His sides are clothed with waving wood.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:
- words clothed in reason's garb
Synonyms
- (to adorn or cover with clothing): dight, don, put on; see also Thesaurus:clothe
Derived terms
Translations
adorn with clothing
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Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English clāþ.
Noun
clothe
- Alternative form of cloth
Etymology 2
From Old English clāþian.
Verb
clothe
- Alternative form of clothen
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story)”, in The Canterbury Tales, , →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, , : [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes , 1542, →OCLC, lines 101-104:
- A YEMAN hadde he and servantz namo / At that tyme, for hym liste ride soo; / And he was clad in cote and hood of grene.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)