dishabille

dishabille

English

Alternative forms

• deshabille

Etymology

From French déshabillé

Pronunciation

• enPR: dĭs'əbēlʹ, -bilʹ, IPA^(key): /dɪsəˈbiːl/, /-ˈbɪl/
• Rhymes: -iːl, -ɪl

Noun

dishabille (countable and uncountable, plural dishabilles)

1. Extreme casual or disorderly dress, shirt tail out, sleeves unbuttoned, etc.
   • 1817, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

     Wherever they went, some pattened girl stopped to curtsy, or some footman in dishabille sneaked off. Yet this was an abbey!

   • 1891, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

     A little after 3:15 o’clock yesterday afternoon a stream of people, hatless, coatless, some in an even worse state of dishabille rushed down the stairs or to the elevators of every one of the downtown buildings and onto the streets, their faces showing every sign of terror.

2. A loose, negligent dress.
   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 44

     She wore a dishabille of mignonette-green silk and bead-diapered head-dress that added several inches to her height […]

See also

• deshabille
• habiliment