clothe

• cloathe (obsolete)

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkləʊð/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkloʊð/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -əʊð

clothe (third-person singular simple present clothes, present participle clothing, simple past and past participle clothed or (archaic) clad)

1. (transitive) To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing.

   to feed and clothe a family; to clothe oneself extravagantly

   • 1478, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, 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.

   • c. 1590-92, Shakespeare, William, 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[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, →OCLC:

     The naked every day he clad, / When he put on his clothes.

2. (figuratively) 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

• (to adorn or cover with clothing): dight, don, put on; see also Thesaurus:clothe

From Old English clāþ.

clothe

1. Alternative form of cloth

From Old English clāþian.

clothe

1. Alternative form of clothen