different between chiffonier vs wardrobe

English

Alternative forms

• chiffonnier

Etymology

Borrowed from French chiffonnier.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???f.??n??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???f.??n??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Noun

chiffonier (plural chiffoniers)

1. A tall, elegant chest of drawers, often with a mirror attached.
   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, p. 71:

     From the half-open drawers of this chiffonnier hung laces, ribands, stockings, ladies' underclothing and an abdominal brace, which gave the impression that the feminine finery had suffered venery.

2. One who gathers rags and odds and ends; a ragpicker.
3. A receptacle for rags or shreds.

Synonyms

• cheffonier

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English warderobe, from Old Northern French warderoube, wardereube, northern variants of Old French garderobe, from garder (“to keep safe”) + robe. Subsequently influenced by various senses of garderobe as they developed in French.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w??d???b/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w??d?o?b/

Noun

wardrobe (plural wardrobes)

1. (obsolete) A room for keeping clothes and armor safe, particularly a dressing room or walk-in closet beside a bedroom.
2. (figuratively) A governmental office or department in a monarchy which purchases, keeps, and cares for royal clothes.
3. (figuratively) The building housing such a department.
4. (obsolete) Any closet used for storing anything.
5. A room for keeping costumes and other property safe at a theater; a prop room.
6. (figuratively) The department of a theater, movie studio, etc which purchases, keeps, and cares for costumes; its staff; its room(s) or building(s).
7. A movable cupboard or cabinet designed for storing clothes, particularly as a large piece of bedroom furniture.
8. A tall built-in cupboard or closet for storing clothes, often including a rail for coat-hangers, and usually located in a bedroom.
9. (figuratively, uncommon) Anything that similarly stores or houses something.
   • 1605, 1st Pt. Jeronimo:

     Now death... crams his store house to the top with bloud,
     Might I now and Andrea in one fight,
     Make vp thy wardroope
     Richer by a knight.

10. The contents of a wardrobe: an individual's entire collection of clothing.
11. (figuratively) Any collection of clothing.
12. (figuratively, uncommon) Any collection of anything.
13. (obsolete) A private chamber, particularly one used for sleeping or (euphemistic) urinating and defecating.
14. (hunting, obsolete) Badger feces, particularly used in tracking game.

Synonyms

• (movable furniture for storing clothes): armoir, dresser; cupboard (UK); closet (regional US), press (Irish & Scots), shrank
• (department overseeing costumes): costume department
• (sleeping chamber): See bedroom
• (lavatory or outhouse): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• lowboy
• tallboy

Verb

wardrobe (third-person singular simple present wardrobes, present participle wardrobing, simple past and past participle wardrobed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a wardrobe department, to provide clothing or sets of clothes.
   • 1954 December 11, Billboard, p. 20:

     […] impressed with the quality of the talent and production, good wardrobing and speedy pacing.

References

• "wardrobe, n." in the Oxford English Dictionary (1921), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

• bareword, bore draw, bore-draw, drawbore