▪ I. clothing, vbl. n.
(ˈkləʊðɪŋ)
[f. clothe v.]
1. a. The action of covering or providing with clothes; dressing.
| c 1200 Ormin 19064 Inn etinng and inn drinnkinng ec, I claþinng and i trowwþe. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 100 Suche thyngys as longed to her leuyng and clothyng. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. i. 54 For cloathing me in these graue Ornaments. |
b. fig. Investiture; endowment.
| 1876 Digby Real Prop. iii. 129 The clothing the donee with the actual possession of the land. |
c. Investiture with a religious habit. Cf. clothe v. 1 d.
| 1628 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (1905) I. 98 Neece M.S. cloathing and profession. 1691 N. N. Life Lady Warner of Parham ii. i. 73 My Lady took at her Cloathing the Name of Sister Teresa Clare. Ibid., Father Martha a Famous Preacher..of the Society of Iesus, made her Cloathing Sermon. 1701 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (1905) VII. 92 We were at y⊇ cloathing of 2 Lay Sisters at y⊇ Austines. 1884 Tablet 11 Oct. 592/2 The ‘clothing’ of two postulants of the Order of Mercy. 1891 S. Ryder Let. 8 Apr. in C. S. Dessain Lett. J. H. Newman (1962) XII. 373, I entered [the convent]..in the year 1849. Dear Fr. Newman came to my clothing on the following August. |
2. concr. a. Clothes collectively, apparel, dress.
| c 1275 Lay. 3187 Ich þe wole hire bi-wete, mid seolue hire cloþing [c 1205 claðen]. a 1300 Cursor M. 4655 (Cott.) And clahtyng on him lette he fall. c 1440 York Myst. xxiii. 97 His clothyng is white as snowe. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. xx. §3 Holiness and purity..do much more adorn a bishop, than his peculiar form of clothing. 1611 Bible Mark xii. 38 Beware of the Scribes, which loue to goe in long clothing. 1862 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 11 Articles of bodily luxury, including clothing. |
† b. Bed-clothes. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8599 (Gött.) Þair clothing [Trin. beddyng, Cott. clathes] was sua nede and fa. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 35 Their skin forms excellent cloathing both for the bed and the body. |
† c. An article of dress, a garment. Obs.
| 1388 Wyclif Matt. ix. 16 No man puttith a clout of bostous clothe into an olde clothing [1382 clothe]. |
† d. Livery, uniform; a Livery Company. Obs.
| 1418 in Archives of Grocer's Company i. 117 And all tho that beyn in the Clothinge schulle paye ijs. vi{supd}. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlii. 276 Euery man in the clothynge of his crafte. 1529 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xiv. 252 The Maysters..shall nott..Admytt any person ynto the Clothyng or lyuerye of the same Mystere, withoute, etc. 1601 in Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 256 Itt ys ordered that the Aldermen, the Councell, and the Cloathinge shall wayte on Maister Maior on Blake Monday yearely to Saint Ane Well. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. i. iii, This summer, He will be of the clothing of his companie. |
e. transf. and fig.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter x. 7 Þat comes in clathynge of meknes. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 157 They..with sheepes clothing doen hem disguise. 1710 Swift Tatler No. 230 ¶9 Words are the Cloathing of our Thoughts. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 99 The..clothing of the mammoth. |
3. a. A covering or casing of cloth, or the like. b. Mech. = cleading 2.
| a 1789 Burney Hist. Mus. (ed. 2) I. ix. 150 Though the cloathing of the jacks be in close contact with all the strings. 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. ix. 110 Her boat..was drawn up under cover, and carefully protected by linen clothing. |
c. Naut. Sails; ‘the rigging of the bowsprit’.
| 1798 J. Wooldridge in Naval Chron. (1799) I. 80 All the timbers, and part of the cloathing, all the rigging. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 47 The clothing of bowsprits are now all fitted with either wire or chain strops. |
† 4. = Cloth-making. Obs.
| 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 13 §7 Every Person exercising Merchandises, Bargaining and Selling, Clothing, Handicraft or other Art or Faculty. 1641 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 553 Several Towns there, where cloathing was exercised. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 442 Clothing is plied in this city with great industry and judgment. |
5. attrib. a. Engaged in or concerned with the making and selling of cloth.
| 1594 Norden Spec. Brit., Essex (1840) 9 Ther are within this shire theis especiall clothing townes. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. (1843) 401/1 The clothing parts of Somersetshire. 1694 Child Disc. Trade (ed. 4) 159 Prejudicial to the Clothing-Trade of the Kingdom in general. 1694 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 392 The English and Dutch cloathing ships were come to that citty [Smyrna]. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. 119 Exported in the Fleece to the cloathing parts of England. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 551 The West Riding of Yorkshire, the most important clothing-district in England, exhibits an area of nearly 40 miles by 20 occupied by clothing towns and villages. |
b. Of or for clothes; clothing book, a ration book containing clothing coupons; clothing club, a club for the exchange or purchase of clothing by small part-payments; clothing coupon, a ration coupon entitling the holder to a certain quantity of clothes or clothing materials; clothing store U.S., a draper's shop; clothing wool, wool suitable for the manufacture of woollen fabrics.
| 1829 B. Hall Trav. N. Amer. I. 18 Flour and feed store—Cheap store—Clothing store. 1838 J. Romilly Diary 28 Nov. (1967) 158 In came M{supr} Hose begging for the Trinity Clothing Club (I gave him a gna). c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 131 Marine clothing-room..to receive the clothing of the marines. 1853 Stocqueler Military Encycl. 64/2 Colonels of regiments draw off-reckonings, or clothing allowance. 1857 Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life (1858) II. 311 A clothing club he was going to establish. 1869 Rep. Secretary of Agric. (U.S.) 7 A sufficiency of most grades of clothing wools has been produced. 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxvi. 362 Clothing wool Merinos. 1940 Mencken Happy Days 101 They made no more impression upon him than if they had addressed a clothing-store dummy. 1943 Punch 31 Mar. 259/1 There is no objection to a husband and wife sharing their clothing coupons. 1943 Times 4 Aug. 2/4 All the coupons in the current 1942–43 clothing book would remain valid at least until the end of 1943. 1946 ‘Tackline’ Such Nice Girls xiii. 144 It is very strange..why R.N. officers are so much meaner with their clothing-coupons than R.N.V.R. officers. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top i. 17 The Smiling Zombie, who ran a clothing club and a moneylender's. |
▪ II. ˈclothing, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That clothes, investing, enveloping.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 67 Clethynge, vestiens, amicens. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iii. Introd. 127 The parts..are some of them external and cloathing, others internal and contained. |