wardrobe

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): / ˈwɔːdɹəʊb/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔɹdɹoʊb/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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Noun

wardrobe (plural wardrobes)

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.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     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.

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.
   • 1605, 1st Pt. Jeronimo:

     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.

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. (hunting, obsolete) Badger feces, particularly used in tracking game.

Synonyms

• (movable furniture for storing clothes): armoir, dresser; cupboard (UK); closet (regional US), press (Irish & Scots), shrank
• (department overseeing costumes): costume department
• (sleeping chamber): See bedroom
• (lavatory or outhouse): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

Derived terms

• removing wardrobe
• standing wardrobe
• wardrobe account
• wardrobe bedstead
• wardrobe book
• wardrobe dealer
• wardrobe keeper
• wardrobe maid

• wardrobe malfunction
• wardrobe man
• wardrobe master
• wardrobe mistress
• wardrobe room
• wardrobe stuff
• wardrobe trunk
• wardrobe woman

Translations

movable furniture for storing clothes

• Albanian: garderobë f
• Arabic: خِزَانَة‎ f (ḵizāna), خِزَانَة ثَوْب‎ f (ḵizānat ṯawb), خِزَانَة اَلْمَلَابِس‎ f (ḵizānat al-malābis)

  Hijazi Arabic: دولاب‎ m (dōlāb)

• Armenian: զգեստապահարան (hy) (zgestapaharan), պահարան (hy) (paharan)
• Azerbaijani: şkaf, dolab
• Belarusian: ша́фа f (šáfa)
• Bengali: পোশাক (pośak)
• Bulgarian: гардеро́б (bg) m (garderób), шкаф (bg) m (škaf)
• Catalan: armari (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 衣櫥 (zh), 衣橱 (zh) (yīchú), 衣櫃 (zh), 衣柜 (zh) (yīguì), 立櫃 (zh), 立柜 (zh) (lìguì), 壁櫥 (zh), 壁橱 (zh) (bìchú)

• Cornish: gwiskti m, dilasva f
• Czech: šatník m, šatní skříň f, skříň (cs) f
• Dalmatian: armir m, armar
• Danish: garderobe (da) c, garderobeskab n, klædeskab (da) n
• Dutch: kledingkast (nl) c
• Esperanto: vestotenejo, vestoŝranko
• Estonian: riidekapp (et)
• Faroese: skáp, klædnaskáp n
• Finnish: vaatekaappi (fi)
• French: garde-robe (fr) f, armoire (fr)
• Friulian: armâr m
• Galician: gardarroupa m, roupeiro (gl) m, armario (gl) m
• Gallurese: cantaranu, guardavì
• Georgian: კარადა (ḳarada)
• German: Garderobe (de), Kleiderschrank (de)
• Greek: ιματιοθήκη (el) f (imatiothíki), ντουλάπα (el) f (doulápa), ενδυματοθήκη f (endymatothíki)

  Ancient: ἱματιοθήκη f (himatiothḗkē)

• Hebrew: אָרוֹן‎ (he) m (arón)
• Hindi: अलमारी (hi) f (almārī)
• Hungarian: szekrény (hu), gardrób (hu)
• Indonesian: lemari pakaian (id)
• Irish: vardrús m
• Italian: armadio (it), guardaroba (it) m
• Japanese: 洋服だんす (ようふくだんす, yōfukudansu), 洋服箪笥 (ようふくだんす, yōfukudansu), ワードローブ (ja) (wādorōbu)
• Kazakh: шкаф (kk) (şkaf)
• Khmer: ទូ (km) (tuu)
• Korean: 옷장 (ko) (otjang)
• Kyrgyz: шкаф (ky) (şkaf)
• Lao: ຕູ້ (lo) (tū)
• Latin: vestiarium n

• Latvian: skapis m
• Lithuanian: spinta (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Schaf m
• Macedonian: гардероба f (garderoba), орман m (orman), шкаф m (škaf)
• Malay: almari (ms)
• Maori: wātaropa
• Mirandese: almairo m
• Mongolian: шүүгээ (mn) (šüügee)
• Norman: preisse f (Guernsey)
• Northern Sami: bivttasheŋgehat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: garderobeskap n, klesskap (no) n, skåp n

  Nynorsk: garderobeskap n, klesskap n

• Persian: کمد‎ (fa) (komod), اشکاف‎ (fa) (eškâf) (dialectal)
• Papiamentu: kashi di paña
• Polish: szafa (pl) f
• Portuguese: guarda-roupa (pt), armário (pt) m, guarda-roupas (pt) m
• Quechua: p'acha jallch'ana
• Romanian: garderobă f, dulap (ro) n, șifonier (ro) n
• Russian: шкаф (ru) m (škaf), шифонье́р (ru) m (šifonʹjér), гардеро́б (ru) m (garderób)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: armàriu, guardaroba, alasèna, moràglas

  Logudorese: armàriu, cantaranu

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀рма̄р m

  Latin: òrmār (sh) m

• Slovak: šatník m
• Slovene: omara (sl) f
• Spanish: armario (es) m, ropero (es) m, clóset (es) m, escaparate (es) m, empotrado (es) m, placard m, alacena (es) f
• Swedish: garderob (sv) c, skåp (sv) n
• Tajik: ҷевон (jevon)
• Thai: ตู้ (th) (dtûu)
• Turkish: klozet (tr), gardırop (tr)
• Turkmen: şkaf
• Ukrainian: ша́фа f (šáfa)
• Uzbek: shkaf (uz), javon (uz)
• Vietnamese: tủ áo, quần áo (vi), tủ quần áo
• Volapük: klotikipedöp (vo)
• Welsh: cwpwrdd dillad (cy) m, dilladfa m, dilladfaoedd m pl
• Yiddish: אַלמער‎ m (almer)

costume department

• Bulgarian: гардеро́б (bg) m (garderób)
• Czech: šatna (cs) f
• Danish: garderobe (da) c
• Finnish: puvusto
• Greek: ενδυματολόγιο n (endymatológio), κοστούμια (el) n pl (kostoúmia), γκαρνταρόμπα (el) f (gkarntarómpa)
• Irish: feisteas m
• Italian: guardaroba (it)

• Polish: garderoba (pl) f
• Portuguese: guarda-roupa (pt) m, figurino m
• Russian: гардеро́б (ru) m (garderób)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гардеро́ба f

  Latin: garderóba (sh) f

collection of clothing

• Bulgarian: гардеро́б (bg) m (garderób)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行頭 (zh), 行头 (zh) (xíngtou)

• Czech: šatník m
• Danish: garderobe (da) c
• Finnish: vaatekaappi (fi)
• Greek: γκαρνταρόμπα (el) f (gkarntarómpa)
• Hungarian: gardrób (hu)
• Irish: feisteas m
• Italian: guardaroba (it)
• Japanese: 洋服一式 (yōfuku isshiki)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: garderobe (no) m

  Nynorsk: garderobe m

• Polish: garderoba (pl) f
• Portuguese: guarda-roupa (pt) m, vestiário m, vestuário (pt) m
• Russian: гардеро́б (ru) m (garderób)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гардеро́ба f

  Latin: garderóba (sh) f

• Turkish: gardrop (tr)

outhouse — see outhouse

lavatory — see toilet

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} klerekas
• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} garderobë
• Basque: ^{(please verify)} armairu
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} гардероб (bg) (garderob)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} guarda-roba
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} garderobe (nl), ^{(please verify)} kledingkast (nl)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} vestoŝranko
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} garderoob
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} מֶלְתָּחָה‎ (he)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} वस्त्रागार (hi) (vastrāgār)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} fataskápur (is) m
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} lemari pakaian (id)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 옷장 (ko) (otjang)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} armarium
• Latvian: ^{(please verify)} skapis
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} rūbinė

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} garderobă
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} garderóba
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} garderoba
• Sranan Tongo: ^{(please verify)} kroskasi
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} kabati (sw)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} garderob (sv) c
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} aparador ng damit
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} ตู้เสื้อผ้า (tusueapha)
• Turkmen: ^{(please verify)} garderob
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} гардероб (uk) (harderob)
• Uyghur: ^{(please verify)} kiyimchi‎ (kiyimchi)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} tủ quần áo
• Yiddish: ^{(please verify)} גאַרדעראָב‎ (garderob)

See also

• lowboy
• tallboy

Verb

wardrobe (third-person singular simple present wardrobes, present participle wardrobing, simple past and past participle wardrobed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a wardrobe department, to provide clothing or sets of clothes.
   • 1954 December 11, Billboard, p. 20:

     […] impressed with the quality of the talent and production, good wardrobing and speedy pacing.

References

• "wardrobe, n." in the Oxford English Dictionary (1921), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

• bareword, bore draw, bore-draw, drawbore