wardrobe | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

6 entries found.

early 14c., "room where wearing apparel is kept," earlier "a private chamber" (c. 1300), from Old North French warderobe, wardereube (Old French garderobe) "dressing-room, place where garments are kept," from warder "to keep, guard" (from Proto-Germanic *wardon "to guard," from suffixed form of PIE root *wer- (3) "perceive, watch out for") + robe "garment" (see robe (n.)). Meaning "a person's stock of clothes for wearing" is recorded from c. 1400. Sense of "movable closed cupboard for wearing apparel" is recorded from 1794. Meaning "room in which theatrical costumes are kept" is attested from 1711. Wardrobe malfunction is from 2004.

garderobe (n.)

also garde-robe, "wardrobe," early 14c., from Old French garderobe "wardrobe; alcove; dressing-room" (Old North French warderobe; see wardrobe).

chifferobe (n.)

also chifforobe; "article of furniture having drawers as well as space for hanging clothes," 1903, from merger of chiffonier + wardrobe (n.).

armoire (n.)

"large wardrobe with doors and shelves," 1570s, from French armoire, from Old French armarie "cupboard, bookcase, reliquary" (12c., Modern French armoire), from Latin armarium "closet, chest, place for implements or tools," from arma "gear, tools, ship's tackle, weapons of war" (see arm (n.2)). The French word was borrowed earlier as ambry (late 14c.).

pomander (n.)

late 15c., pomendambre, "mix of aromatic herbs in a bag or perforated apple-shaped shell, carried or worn around the neck as a preservative against infection," from Old French pomme d'embre (13c.), from pome "apple" (from Latin pomum; see Pomona) + ambre "amber" (see amber). By mid-20c. the word was used for an orange stuck with cloves and hung in a wardrobe or placed in a drawer with clothing.

vestry (n.)

mid-15c., probably from Anglo-French *vesterie, from Old French vestiaire "room for vestments, dressing room" (12c.), from Latin vestarium "wardrobe," noun use of neuter of vestiarius (adj.) "of clothes," from vestis "garment" (from PIE *wes- (2) "to clothe," extended form of root *eu- "to dress."). Often also a meeting room for the transaction of parish business, and retained in non-liturgical churches as the name of a separate room used for Sunday school, prayer meetings, etc., hence transferred secular use (as in vestryman, 1610s).

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