vestiary

English

WOTD – 4 May 2011

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛstɪəɹi/

• Audio (US)

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Etymology 1

From Old French vestiarie, from Latin vestiarium, from vestis (“clothing”). Doublet of vestry.

Noun

vestiary (countable and uncountable, plural vestiaries)

1. (countable) A dressing room or storeroom for clothes, especially in a church or other religious house.

   Synonyms: sacristy, vestry

   • 1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London: Simpkin and Marshall, […], →OCLC:

     Here a novice appeared from the vestiary of the chapel at his call, and received commands to enquire at the hamlet whether Philipson's bales, with the horse which transported them, had been left there, or ferried over along with his son.

   • 1998, Catherine M. Odell, Faustina, page 75:

     They often had her return to the vestiary for different items two or three times before they were satisfied with what she brought them.

2. (rare, uncountable) Clothing; garments.

Translations

dressing room or storeroom for clothes — see vestry

Etymology 2

From Latin vestiarius, from vestis as Etymology 1, above.

Adjective

vestiary (comparative more vestiary, superlative most vestiary)

1. Pertaining to clothes or clothing.
   • 1981, Harold Osborne, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Art:

     In 1964 she initiated ‘vestiary’ sculpture made of soft materials and designed to be worn by the spectators […] .

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 39:

     The Professor was left to stare into the depths of his ancient hat, as if it were a vestiary expression of his present situation.

Synonyms

• (pertaining to clothing): sartorial

Translations

pertaining to clothing

• Finnish: pukeutumis- (fi), vaatetus- (fi), vaatetukseen liittyvä, vaatetukseen kohdistuva

Anagrams

• aversity