wardrobe

noun, verb — 17 senses

wardrobe

noun

UK /ˈwɔːdɹəʊb/ · US /ˈwɔɹdɹoʊb/

Etymology From Middle English warderobe, from Old Northern French warderoube, wardereube, northern variants of Old French garderobe, from garder (“to keep safe”) + robe. Subsequently influenced by various senses of garderobe as they developed in French. Doublet of garderobe. By surface analysis, ward + robe.

14 senses
  1. 1A room for keeping clothes and armor safe, particularly…
  2. 2A governmental office or department in a monarchy which…
  3. 3The building housing such a department.
  4. 4Any closet used for storing anything.
  5. 5A room for keeping costumes and other property safe at a…
  6. 6The department of a theater, movie studio, etc which…
  7. 7A movable cupboard or cabinet designed for storing…
  8. 8A tall built-in cupboard or closet for storing clothes…
  9. 9Anything that similarly stores or houses something.
  10. 10The contents of a wardrobe: an individual's entire…
  11. 11Any collection of clothing.
  12. 12Any collection of anything.
  13. 13A private chamber, particularly one used for sleeping or…
  14. 14Badger feces, particularly used in tracking game.
1

Obsolete A room for keeping clothes and armor safe, particularly a dressing room or walk-in closet beside a bedroom.

2

Figuratively A governmental office or department in a monarchy which purchases, keeps, and cares for royal clothes.

3

Figuratively The building housing such a department.

4

Obsolete Any closet used for storing anything.

5

A room for keeping costumes and other property safe at a theater; a prop room.

6

Figuratively The department of a theater, movie studio, etc which purchases, keeps, and cares for costumes; its staff; its room(s) or building(s).

7

A movable cupboard or cabinet designed for storing clothes, particularly as a large piece of bedroom furniture.

  • A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
8

A tall built-in cupboard or closet for storing clothes, often including a rail for coat-hangers, and usually located in a bedroom.

9

Figuratively, Uncommon Anything that similarly stores or houses something.

  • Now death... crams his store house to the top with bloud, Might I now and Andrea in one fight, Make vp thy wardroope Richer by a knight.1605, 1st Pt. Jeronimo
10

The contents of a wardrobe: an individual's entire collection of clothing.

11

Figuratively Any collection of clothing.

12

Figuratively, Uncommon Any collection of anything.

13

Obsolete A private chamber, particularly one used for sleeping or (euphemistic) urinating and defecating.

14

Hobbies, Hunting, Lifestyle Obsolete Badger feces, particularly used in tracking game.

Synonyms
armoir, dresser, cupboard, closet, press, shrank, costume department, bedroom, bathroom
Derived terms
removing wardrobe, standing wardrobe, walk-in wardrobe, wardrobe account, wardrobe bedstead, wardrobe beetle, wardrobe book, wardrobe dealer, wardrobe keeper, wardrobe maid, wardrobe malfunction, wardrobe man, wardrobe master, wardrobe mistress, wardrobe room, wardrobe stuff, wardrobe trunk, wardrobe woman
Related terms
lowboy, tallboy

wardrobe

verb

Etymology From Middle English warderobe, from Old Northern French warderoube, wardereube, northern variants of Old French garderobe, from garder (“to keep safe”) + robe. Subsequently influenced by various senses of garderobe as they developed in French. Doublet of garderobe. By surface analysis, ward + robe.

1

To act as a wardrobe department; to provide clothing or sets of clothes.

  • […] impressed with the quality of the talent and production, good wardrobing and speedy pacing.1954 December 11, Billboard, page 20:
2

To order clothing online and return it for a refund after having worn it.

  • Wardrobing, the act of buying a nice piece of clothing, wearing it once, and returning it, is an $8.8 billion problem for the retail industry.2015, Adam Toporek, Be Your Customer's Hero, AMACOM, →ISBN, page 195:
3

To order multiple sizes of the same clothing online and return all but the one that fits best.

  • Wardrobing is where people will order the same thing in three different sizes to see which one fits and then they return the other two, not realizing that those other two most of the time don’t go back on that retailer’s shelves.2022 January 28, Katie Tarasov, “What really happens to Amazon returns”, in CNBC:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.