bathing costume

noun

British

: a garment worn for swimming or bathing : bathing suit, swimsuit

'There!' said the captain, pointing to one of the young ladies before noticed, who, in her bathing costume, looked as if she was enveloped in a patent Mackintosh, of scanty dimensions.

—Charles Dickens

Examples of bathing costume in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Set high on the hotel rooftop (arrive early and bring your bathing costume for a pre-dinner dip in the to-die-for infinity pool), its low-key restaurant offers breezy, tasty respite from the masses. —Duncan Madden, Forbes, 9 June 2022

The bathing costume threw shade on the cast’s red-carpet efforts thanks to its simple execution and clever framing: the nostalgic Gucci logo fashion fans went nuts for; the dripping glass containing homemade lemonade? —Alice Newbold, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2022

The following summer, a news photographer snapped a female beachgoer in Chicago, modeling a $1.50 bathing costume created by a local paper manufacturer. —Greg Daugherty, Smithsonian, 25 May 2018

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1832, in the meaning defined above