garb

1 of 2

noun

ˈgärb 

1

obsolete : fashion, manner

2

a

: a style of apparel

b

: outward form : appearance

garb

2 of 2

verb

garbed; garbing; garbs

transitive verb

: to cover with or as if with clothing

Synonyms

Noun

• costume
• drag
• dress
• getup
• guise
• outfit
• togs

Verb

• apparel
• array
• attire
• bedeck
• caparison
• clothe
• costume
• deck (out)
• do up
• dress
• dress up
• enrobe
• garment
• get up
• gown
• habit
• invest
• rig (out)
• robe
• suit
• tog (up or out)
• toilet
• vesture

Examples of garb in a Sentence

Noun

decided to clothe himself in traditional Scottish garb for the celebration

a fable about personal redemption presented in the garb of a conventional horror story

Verb

firefighters garbed in protective gear

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The garb featured a spaghetti-strap bandeau-style top with paneling on the front, a cape-length back and a coordinating mini skirt. —Dave Quinn, People.com, 30 Oct. 2024

The city has designated the 17th of each month as Ohtani Day, meaning bank workers, taxi drivers and civil servants go to work in their Dodgers garb. —Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024

Verb

Floral sculptures appear throughout the store, including one that is garbed in a silk robe. —Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024

The large-scale work shows two men, one richly garbed and another in religious dress, leaned against a table stuffed with objects. —Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 14 July 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from Middle French & Italian; Middle French garbe "graceful contour, grace," borrowed from Italian garbo "grace, charm, good manners, form, outline of a ship's hull made from wood pieces," of uncertain origin

Note: If the sense "outline of a ship's hull" is prior to the more abstract senses, the modern Italian word probably continues an earlier etymon represented by (alleged) medieval Genoese dialect garibu in the sense "model of a hull," itself ultimately a loan from Arabic qālib "mold, shoemaker's last" (see caliber); details of attestation are thus far incompletely documented, however. An earlier hypothesis connecting garbo (and the related verb garbare "to be becoming to, please") to Germanic *garwjan- "to prepare, make ready" (presumably via Gothic; see gear entry 1, yare) is questionable on semantic and phonetic grounds.

Verb

derivative of garb entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1600, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1673, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

garb

noun

ˈgärb

1

: style of dress

2

: outward form : appearance

garb verb