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):

  (file)

• 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

   • c. 1590-92, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew‎^[1], 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: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC:

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

2. (figurative) 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], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →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

clothe

1. alternative form of cloth

clothe

1. alternative form of clothen
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story via the 'title' parameter)”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, lines 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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)