ˈnight-gown
[f. night n. + gown n.]
1. A loose gown specially used for putting on at (or during the) night in place of the ordinary clothes; a dressing-gown. Now only Hist.
| a 1400 Bk. Curtasye 483 in Babees Bk., Þen bryngis he forthe nyȝtgoun also, And spredys a tapet and qwysshens two. 1541 Rutland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) IV. 321 Rydyng to Hwlle, to bere my Lorde a nyght gowne, iiijs. 1546 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 240 A gowne furrid withe lambe whiche is my nyghte gowne. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. 155 His night gowne was made of blacke Veluet, after the French use laced about, with lase of golde. 1607 Dekker & Webster Sir T. Wyatt Wks. 1873 III. 128 Pleaseth the Lady Iane, ile helpe her off with her night-Gowne. 1667 Pepys Diary 27 Aug., She..ran out in her smock into her aviary..; and thither her woman brought her her nightgown. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1871/4 A Night-gown of striped Sattin cloth⁓colour and Buff, another for a man about the same colours. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1736) I. 177 He starts up in the Bed, feels for his Night-Gown to rise..and see what was the matter. 1749 Smollett Gil Blas iv. x, She put on a thin night-gown which lay at the bed's feet. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. i. Scene ii, a Dressing Room. Lord Foppington, in his Night Gown. 1808 Scott in Lockhart (1839) I. 27, I found him..wrapped in a tartan night gown. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet II. 43 The country parson went dressed in a grey-striped calamanco nightgown. |
| fig. 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 38 No meagre, muse-rid mope,..In a dun night-gown of his own loose skin. |
† 2. A kind of gown worn by ladies in the 18th
cent., originally as an evening dress.
Obs.| 1700 S. Centlivre Perj. Husb. iii. ii, But, Madam, what's to be done with your brocade night-gown you tore last night? 1745 in Dunbar Social Life (1865) 123 All plain silk night-gowns [are] worn with different coloured sattens sewed on the brest. 1756 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) III 403 Long hoods are worn close under the chin, tied behind... Nightgowns worn without hoops. 1778 Ibid. Ser. ii. II. 380 The Queen was in a hat and an Italian night-gown of purple lutestring. |
3. A light garment worn in bed, now
spec. one worn by women and children.
| a 1822 Byron Juan xvi. cxi, He was undrest, Saving his night-gown. 1851 Meredith Love in the Valley xi, When from bed she rises clothed from neck to ankle In her long night gown sweet as boughs of May. 1891 Hardy Tess (1900) 157/2 The skirts of her dressing-gown and the embroidery of her night-gown flowed upon the floor. |
Hence
ˈnight-gowned a., dressed in a night-gown.
| c 1860 Mrs. Spofford in Casquet of Lit. (1896) IV. 28 The four pattering night-gowned imps. 1899 Kipling Stalky 176 A nightgowned twelve-year-old leaped from his bed. |