gown

[ goun ]

noun

1. a woman's dress or robe, especially one that is full-length.

   Synonyms: frock

2. nightgown.
3. dressing gown.
4. evening gown.
5. a loose, flowing outer garment in any of various forms, worn by a man or woman as distinctive of office, profession, or status:

   an academic gown.

6. the student and teaching body in a university or college town.

verb (used with object)

1. to dress in a gown.

gown

/ ɡaʊn /

noun

1. any of various outer garments, such as a woman's elegant or formal dress, a dressing robe, or a protective garment, esp one worn by surgeons during operations
2. a loose wide garment indicating status, such as worn by academics
3. the members of a university as opposed to the other residents of the university town Compare town

verb

1. tr to supply with or dress in a gown

Other Words From

• un·gowned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gown¹

1300–50; Middle English goune < Old French < Late Latin gunna fur or leather garment

Word History and Origins

Origin of gown¹

C14: from Old French goune, from Late Latin gunna garment made of leather or fur, of Celtic origin

Idioms and Phrases

see cap and gown ; town and gown .

Synonym Study

See dress.

Example Sentences

As masks, gloves, shields and gowns break down, they’ll produce a deluge of tiny plastics.

From Science News For Students

The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum has displayed high-school-graduation gowns and local restaurant menus, with the same seriousness and staging another museum would give a famous painting.

From Washington Post

The Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals also helped her procure masks and gowns, as did one patient who ordered supplies from overseas.

From Popular-Science

I did not have a single — really — I didn’t have a single N95 mask, surgical mask, isolation gown, nitrile glove.

From ProPublica

Instead of donning and removing protective masks, gowns and other gear many times a day, nurses spend their entire 12-hour shifts in protective equipment.

From Washington Post

In April, the 19-year-old brunette in an emerald gown was crowned Miss Honduras.

From The Daily Beast

Michelle Obama wore her first de la Renta gown this month, after he had criticized her fashion choices last year.

From The Daily Beast

He proceeded to personally change her gown and placed her in a wheelchair for the move.

From The Daily Beast

While caring for patients, clinical staff is heavily robed with gown and apron; three pairs of gloves; a hood; and goggles.

From The Daily Beast

The Fashion Icon winner lived up to her reputation in a sparkly, see-through, and utterly fabulous gown.

From The Daily Beast

That she had her definite reason he knew, as a woman knows when another woman is wearing a last year's gown.

From Project Gutenberg

And then indeed he put on his night-gown, and went to Smithfield, the place where his relation dwelt.

From Project Gutenberg

She was in a soiled dressing gown of purple flannel, with several of the buttons off.

From Project Gutenberg

She wore a gown of white tulle upon whose floating surface were a few dark-blue lilies.

From Project Gutenberg

Her head, set off by her dainty white gown, suggested a rich, rare blossom.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• costume
• frock
• garb
• garment