Wardrobe

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Wardrobe

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:37 pm

• wardrobe •

Pronunciation: wawr-drob • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A large piece of furniture where clothes are kept. 2. The room or building where theatrical costumes are kept. 3. The entire collection of clothes belonging to one person.

Notes: This word originally referred to a large piece of furniture that held all our clothes. Today it may also refer to the contents of a wardrobe (definition No. 3). A more archaic word for a storage space for clothes is the French word garderobe, should you ever find yourself in an archaic conversation.

In Play: Today, this word most widely refers to the entire collection of outfits worn by a person: "Maude Lynn Dresser has a wardrobe out of the 60s, for which she pays a high social price." Wardrobes often change seasonally: "When asked why she works at a company that demands that she change her entire wardrobe on the first day of each season, Natalie Cladd replied, 'For $250,000 per year'."

Word History: This word came from Norman French with the original meaning "room where wearing apparel is kept" or "a private chamber", consisting of warder "to keep, guard" + robe "garment". When standard French borrowed the English word ward, since at that time it had no [w] sound, it was replaced by the nearest French sound, [gw], spelled GU. English later borrowed this word back from French as guard. Finally, the U was dropped in French, hence the duplicate garderobe.

Robe comes from a borrowed word in French, too, roube "booty, spoils of war", especially, in Norman French, stolen clothing. French borrowed this word from Old Germanic Rauba "booty", which produced German rauben "rob" and English rob. English then borrowed back this word, too, assigning it the meaning of robe. However, the verb disrobe retains the French meaning of "clothing". (We now thank Joakim Larsson of Sweden for today's remarkable Good Word containing two double borrowings.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8039
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Wardrobe

Postby Slava » Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:42 pm

By extension, this word also refers to the department that works in definition #2.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Wardrobe

Postby LukeJavan8 » Thu Aug 13, 2015 12:00 pm

This word always reminds me of the Narnia Tales by CS Lewis.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Wardrobe

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:23 pm

Anyone know whether there is a distinction between a wardrobe and a chiffrobe?
pl

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Wardrobe

Postby LukeJavan8 » Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:03 pm

and/or an Armoire?
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Bing [Bot] and 55 guests