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) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)

Noun

wardrobe (plural wardrobes)

A Baroque wardrobe

(obsolete) A room for keeping clothes and armor safe, particularly a dressing room or walk-in closet beside a bedroom.
(figuratively) A governmental office or department in a monarchy which purchases, keeps, and cares for royal clothes.
(figuratively) The building housing such a department.
(obsolete) Any closet used for storing anything.
A room for keeping costumes and other property safe at a theater; a prop room.
(figuratively) The department of a theater, movie studio, etc which purchases, keeps, and cares for costumes; its staff; its room(s) or building(s).
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:
  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.
A tall built-in cupboard or closet for storing clothes, often including a rail for coat-hangers, and usually located in a bedroom.
(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.
The contents of a wardrobe: an individual's entire collection of clothing.
(figuratively) Any collection of clothing.
(figuratively, uncommon) Any collection of anything.
(obsolete) A private chamber, particularly one used for sleeping or (euphemistic) urinating and defecating.
(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

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)
Egyptian Arabic: دولاب‎ m (dōlāb)
Hijazi Arabic: دولاب‎ m (dōlāb)
Armenian: զգեստապահարան (hy) (zgestapaharan), պահարան (hy) (paharan)
Azerbaijani: şkaf, dolab
Belarusian: ша́фа f (šáfa)
Bengali: পোশাক (bn) (pośak)
Bulgarian: гардеро́б (bg) m (garderób)
Catalan: armari (ca) m, guarda-roba m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 衣櫥／衣橱 (zh) (yīchú), 衣櫃／衣柜 (zh) (yīguì), 立櫃／立柜 (zh) (lìguì), 壁櫥／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: מלתחה‎ (he) m (meltakhá), ארון בגדים‎ m (arón bgadím)
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)
Javanese: lemari (jv), lemantun
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 (lb) 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)
Oromo: dulaaba
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)
Catalan: vestuari (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 行頭／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
Spanish: vestuario (es) m
Turkish: gardrop (tr)

outhouse — see outhouse

lavatory — see toilet

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} klerekas
Albanian: ^{(please verify)} garderobë
Basque: ^{(please verify)} armairu
Catalan: ^{(please verify)} guarda-roba
Dutch: ^{(please verify)} garderobe (nl), ^{(please verify)} kledingkast (nl)
Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} vestoŝranko
Estonian: ^{(please verify)} garderoob
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 (la)
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)

Verb

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

(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