Adjacent Words

Costume definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COSTUME, n.
1. In painting, a rule or precept by which an artist is enjoined to make every person and thing sustain its proper character, observing the scene of action, the country or place, and making the habits, arms, manners, and proportions correspond. Hence, the observance of this rule in execution.
2. An established mode of dress.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the attire worn in a play or at a fancy dress ball; "he won the prize for best costume"
2: unusual or period attire not characteristic of or appropriate to the time and place; "in spite of the heat he insisted on his woolen costume"
3: the prevalent fashion of dress (including accessories and hair style as well as garments)
4: the attire characteristic of a country or a time or a social class; "he wore his national costume" v
1: dress in a costume; "We dressed up for Halloween as pumpkins" [syn: costume, dress up]
2: furnish with costumes; as for a film or play

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: French, from Italian, custom, dress, from Latin consuetudin-, consuetudo custom — more at custom Date: 1799 1. the prevailing fashion in coiffure, jewelry, and apparel of a period, country, or class 2. an outfit worn to create the appearance characteristic of a particular period, person, place, or thing <Halloween costumes> 3. a person's ensemble of outer garments; especially a woman's ensemble of dress with coat or jacket • costumey adjective II. transitive verb (costumed; costuming) Date: 1823 1. to provide with a costume 2. to design costumes for <costume a play> III. adjective Date: 1847 1. characterized by the use of costumes <a costume ball> <a costume drama> 2. suitable for or enhancing the effect of a particular costume <a costume handbag>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a style or fashion of dress, esp. that of a particular place, time, or class. 2 a set of clothes. 3 clothing for a particular activity (swimming-costume). 4 an actor's clothes for a part. 5 a woman's matching jacket and skirt. --v.tr. provide with a costume. Phrases and idioms: costume jewellery artificial jewellery worn to adorn clothes. costume play (or piece) a play in which the actors wear historical costume. Etymology: F f. It. f. L consuetudo CUSTOM

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Costume Cos"tume` (k?s"t?m` or k?s-t?m"), n. [F. costume, It. costume custom, dress, fr. L. consuetumen (not found), for consuetudo custom. See Custom, and cf. Consuetude.] 1. Dress in general; esp., the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period. 2. Such an arrangement of accessories, as in a picture, statue, poem, or play, as is appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described. I began last night to read Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel . . . .I was extremely delighted with the poetical beauty of some parts . . . .The costume, too, is admirable. --Sir J. Mackintosh. 3. A character dress, used at fancy balls or for dramatic purposes.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(costumes) 1. An actor's or performer's costume is the set of clothes they wear while they are performing. Even from a distance the effect of his fox costume was stunning... The performers, in costume and make-up, were walking up and down backstage... In all, she has eight costume changes. N-VAR 2. The clothes worn by people at a particular time in history, or in a particular country, are referred to as a particular type of costume. ...men and women in eighteenth-century costume... = dress N-UNCOUNT: supp N 3. A costume play or drama is one which is set in the past and in which the actors wear the type of clothes that were worn in that period. ...a lavish costume drama set in Ireland and the US in the 1890s. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Style of dress.

Moby Thesaurus

accouter, apparel, array, attire, ballet skirt, bedizenment, bib and tucker, blackface, buskin, cap and bells, caparison, clothes, clothing, clown white, disguise, drapery, dress, dressing, duds, equip, fashion, fatigues, feathers, fig, fit, fit out, frock, garb, garments, gear, getup, greasepaint, guise, habiliment, habit, investiture, investment, kit, linen, livery, makeup, masquerade, motley, outfit, practical piece, prop, property, rags, raiment, rig, rig out, rig up, robes, sock, sportswear, style, suit, theatrical makeup, threads, tights, togs, toilette, trim, turn out, tutu, uniform, vestment, vesture, wear, wearing apparel