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Habiliment

- 4 dictionary results

ha⋅bil⋅i⋅ment

  [huh-bil-uh-muhnt]
Use Habiliment in a Sentence
–noun
1. Usually, habiliments.
a. clothes or clothing.
b. clothes as worn in a particular profession, way of life, etc.
2. habiliments, accouterments or trappings.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME (h)abylement < MF habillement, equiv. to habill(er), abill(ier) to trim a log, hence, dress, prepare (< VL *adbiliare; see a- 5 , billet 2 ) + -ment -ment

Related forms:
ha⋅bil⋅i⋅men⋅tal  [huh-bil-uh-men-tl] , ha⋅bil⋅i⋅men⋅ta⋅ry, adjective
ha⋅bil⋅i⋅ment⋅ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ha·bil·i·ment   (hə-bĭl'ə-mənt)   
n.  
    1. The special dress or garb associated with an occasion or office. Often used in the plural: "shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave" (Edgar Allan Poe).
    2. Clothes.
  2. habiliments Characteristic furnishings or equipment; trappings: surrounded by the habiliments of the television news industry.

[Middle English habilement, from Old French habillement, from habiller, to clothe, alteration (influenced by habit, clothing) of abiller, to prepare, strip a tree of its branches : a-, toward (from Latin ad-; see ad-) + bille, log; see billet2.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Habiliment

Ha*bil"i*ment\, n. [F. habillement, fr. habiller to dress, clothe, orig., to make fit, make ready, fr. habile apt, skillful, L. habilis. See Habile.]

1. A garment; an article of clothing. --Camden.

2. pl. Dress, in general. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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habiliment 
1422, "munitions, weapons," from M.Fr. habillement, from abiller "prepare or fit out," probably from habile "fit, suitable" (see able). Alternate etymology makes the M.Fr. verb originally mean "reduce a tree by stripping off the branches," from a- "to" + bille "stick of wood." Sense of "clothing, dress" developed 1470, by association with habit (q.v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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