clothing

From Middle English clothing, clathing; equivalent to clothe +‎ -ing. Cognate with Scots cleeding, cleiding, cleading (“clothing”), Dutch kleding (“clothing”), German Kleidung (“clothing”), Danish klædning (“clothing, dress, attire”), Swedish klädning (“dress”). Doublet of the dialectal English term cleading, from Middle English clething; compare also cladding.

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkləʊðɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -əʊðɪŋ

clothing

1. present participle of clothe

A baby wearing many items of winter clothing: headband, cap, fur-lined coat, shawl and sweater

clothing (countable and uncountable, plural clothings)

1. Any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to preserve modesty, or for fashion.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     From others he shall stand in need of nothing, / Yet on his brothers shall depend for clothing.

2. An act or instance of putting clothes on.

   The clothing and unclothing of the idols was of special significance.

3. (obsolete) The art or process of making cloth.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Ray

     Instructing [refugees] in the art of clothing.

4. A covering of non-conducting material on the outside of a boiler, or steam chamber, to prevent radiation of heat.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

• clothingless

• clothes, attire, apparel

• See also Thesaurus:clothing

• clathing, clothyng, clothynge, clathynge, cloþing, cloþinge, cloþingue, claþing, claþinng, cloþyng, claȝing

From clothen +‎ -ing.

• (Early ME, Northern ME) IPA^(key): /ˈklɑːðinɡ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈklɔːðinɡ/

clothing (plural clothinges)

1. What one wears; clothing, outfit, garments.
   1. A piece of clothes; an individual component of an outfit.
   2. The uniform or outfit associated with an occupation or position.
   3. (figuratively) One's religious values and priorities.
   4. (figuratively, rare) One's appearance or countenance.
2. Linen or sheets used as a cover or a protective layer.
3. The equipping or provision of garments.

• English: clothing

• “clōthing (ger.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-27.