garb

1 of 2

noun

ˈgärb 

1

obsolete : fashion, manner

2

a

: a style of apparel

b

: outward form : appearance

garb

2 of 2

verb

garbed; garbing; garbs

transitive verb

: to cover with or as if with clothing

Synonyms

Noun

• costume
• drag
• dress
• getup
• guise
• outfit
• togs

Verb

• apparel
• array
• attire
• bedeck
• caparison
• clothe
• costume
• deck (out)
• do up
• dress
• dress up
• enrobe
• garment
• get up
• gown
• habit
• invest
• rig (out)
• robe
• suit
• tog (up or out)
• toilet
• vesture

Examples of garb in a Sentence

Noun

decided to clothe himself in traditional Scottish garb for the celebration

a fable about personal redemption presented in the garb of a conventional horror story

Verb

firefighters garbed in protective gear

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Facebook pages run by the homes show small children said to be orphans in religious garb, singing and praying, imploring followers to donate or give zakat to buy food, clothes or school supplies. —Teele Rebane, CNN, 1 Feb. 2025

After Butler’s arrest, his lawyer moved to allow Butler to not attend his preliminary hearing, arguing that witnesses wouldn’t be able to identify him as the attacker without the benefit of seeing him in jail garbs in court. —Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025

Verb

By now, three or four big guys, all garbed in those white smocks, had popped out onto the Peacock’s front porch. —Charles Hammer, Kansas City Star, 22 Jan. 2025

Floral sculptures appear throughout the store, including one that is garbed in a silk robe. —Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from Middle French & Italian; Middle French garbe "graceful contour, grace," borrowed from Italian garbo "grace, charm, good manners, form, outline of a ship's hull made from wood pieces," of uncertain origin

Note: If the sense "outline of a ship's hull" is prior to the more abstract senses, the modern Italian word probably continues an earlier etymon represented by (alleged) medieval Genoese dialect garibu in the sense "model of a hull," itself ultimately a loan from Arabic qālib "mold, shoemaker's last" (see caliber); details of attestation are thus far incompletely documented, however. An earlier hypothesis connecting garbo (and the related verb garbare "to be becoming to, please") to Germanic *garwjan- "to prepare, make ready" (presumably via Gothic; see gear entry 1, yare) is questionable on semantic and phonetic grounds.

Verb

derivative of garb entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1600, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1673, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

garb

noun

ˈgärb

1

: style of dress

2

: outward form : appearance

garb verb