Dictionary

garb en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɡɑː(ɹ)b/

Etymology

From Middle French garbe ("graceful outline, silhouette"; > Modern French galbe), from Italian garbo (“grace, elegance”), from Germanic (compare Old High German garwi, garawi (“dress, equipment, preparation”), Middle High German gerwe (“outfitting, jewelry, clothing, robe, regalia”), modern German Gärbe, Gerbe and English gear), ultimately from Frankish *garwijan (“to prepare”), from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną (“to prepare”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Fashion, style of dressing oneself up.
2. (countable, uncountable) A type of dress or clothing.
   • This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.[…]Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men. 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) A guise, external appearance.
   • You thought, because he could not speak English in the native garb, he could not therefore handle an English cudgel. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Forms

Deriveds

nature's garb · garbless

Translations (20)

ru наря́д (clothing) · ru оде́жда (clothing) · bg облекло (clothing) · gd èideadh (clothing) · ka ტანსაცმელი (clothing) · hu öltözék (clothing) · pt traje (clothing) · sv klädsel (clothing) · oc estil (clothing) · ka სამოსი (clothing) · cs oděv (clothing) · cs úbor (clothing) · mk о́блека (clothing) · mk но́сија (clothing) · ka მოკაზმულობა (clothing) · ka მორთულობა (clothing) · pl strój (clothing) · bg носия (clothing) · mi pakikau (clothing) · cs háv (clothing)

garb en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɡɑː(ɹ)b/

Etymology

From Middle French garbe ("graceful outline, silhouette"; > Modern French galbe), from Italian garbo (“grace, elegance”), from Germanic (compare Old High German garwi, garawi (“dress, equipment, preparation”), Middle High German gerwe (“outfitting, jewelry, clothing, robe, regalia”), modern German Gärbe, Gerbe and English gear), ultimately from Frankish *garwijan (“to prepare”), from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną (“to prepare”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To dress in garb.

Forms

Synonyms

habit · habilitate

Translations (5)

bg обличам (to dress in garb) · hu öltöztet (to dress in garb) · mk о́блече (to dress in garb) · ka ჩაცმა (to dress in garb) · ka შემოსვა (to dress in garb)

garb en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɡɑː(ɹ)b/

Etymology

From Middle English garbe, from Old French garbe, variant of jarbe; akin to German Garbe. Doublet of gerbe.

Meanings

1. A wheatsheaf.
2. A measure of arrows in the Middle Ages.
   • Yorkshire supplied 500 bows, and 580 garbs of arrows, 360 of which had iron heads pointed with steel. 1957, H. R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 118:

Forms

Translations (9)

sv halmkärve (wheat sheaf) · fi kimppu (measure of arrows) · fr gerbe (wheat sheaf) · fi nuolikimppu (measure of arrows) · sv kärve (wheat sheaf) · it covone (wheat sheaf) · hu kéve (wheat sheaf) · es gavilla (wheat sheaf) · sv sädeskärve (wheat sheaf)