Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long loose flowing garment, such as a robe or nightgown.
  • noun A long, usually formal dress for a woman.
  • noun A robe or smock worn in operating rooms and other parts of hospitals as a guard against contamination.
  • noun A distinctive outer robe worn on ceremonial occasions, as by scholars or clerics.
  • noun The faculty and student body of a university.
  • transitive verb To clothe (oneself or another) with a gown.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To invest with a gown; clothe or dress in a gown; hence, to impart the function represented by the gown to.
  • To put on a gown.
  • noun An outer garment, generally long and loose, of various shapes and uses.
  • noun Same as dress, 2. [Dress is preferred for a garment cut to fit the person, the gown being more properly a loose garment hanging from the shoulders. Compare .]
  • noun A loose garment worn in the house; a wrapper: as, a dressing-gown; a night-gown.
  • noun A long and loose over-dress, of varying styles, worn distinctively on official occasions in Europe, and less commonly in America, by clergymen, judges, lawyers, and university professors and students; hence, the emblem of civil power or place, as opposed to the sword.
  • noun The toga.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A loose, flowing upper garment.
  • noun The ordinary outer dress of a woman.
  • noun The official robe of certain professional men and scholars, as university students and officers, barristers, judges, etc.; hence, the dress of peace; the dress of civil officers, in distinction from military.
  • noun A loose wrapper worn by gentlemen within doors; a dressing gown.
  • noun Any sort of dress or garb.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A loose, flowing upper garment.
  • noun The ordinary outer dress of a woman; as, a calico or silk gown.
  • noun The official robe of certain professional men and scholars, as university students and officers, barristers, judges, etc.; hence, the dress of peace; the dress of civil officers, in distinction from military.
  • noun The university community.
  • noun A loose wrapper worn by gentlemen within doors; a dressing gown.
  • noun Any sort of dress or garb.
  • noun The robe worn by a surgeon.
  • verb To dress in a gown, to don or garb with a gown.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the members of a university as distinguished from the other residents of the town in which the university is located
  • noun a woman's dress, usually with a close-fitting bodice and a long flared skirt, often worn on formal occasions
  • noun outerwear consisting of a long flowing garment used for official or ceremonial occasions
  • noun lingerie consisting of a loose dress designed to be worn in bed by women
  • noun protective garment worn by surgeons during operations
  • verb dress in a gown

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English goune, from Old French, from Late Latin gunna, leather garment.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglo-Norman gune, goune 'fur-trimmed coat, pelisse', from Old French goune, from Late Latin gunna 'leather garment, a fur', from Late Greek goúna 'coarse garment', ultimately from Sarmato-Scythian *gaunyā 'fur' (compare Avestan gaona 'body hair', Ossetian γun)

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gown.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.