gown

[goun] /gaʊn/
noun
1.
a woman's dress or robe, especially one that is full-length.
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)
7.
to dress in a gown.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English goune < Old French < Late Latin gunna fur or leather garment
Related forms
ungowned, adjective
Synonyms
1. frock. See dress.
Examples from the web for gown
  • The real challenge, she said, is getting administrators to think differently about land use and town-gown relationships.
  • She spread the white satin gown on the art-room floor.
  • He's in a dressing gown, which he removes, slinging it behind his back to his butler.
  • She's given a case number, a bracelet, a hospital gown.
  • He wore a gown and a sweater, and had a bright gold watch.
  • He introduced military service for some clerics and banned all but the senior clergy from wearing the traditional gown and turban.
  • She was flinty, in fact, insisting before agreeing to be interviewed that questions about a bridal gown never be raised.
  • Neither gown is intended to be worn during surgical procedures as both gowns are provided as non-sterile.
British Dictionary definitions for 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 (sense 7)
verb
4.
(transitive) to supply with or dress in a gown
Word Origin
C14: from Old French goune, from Late Latin gunna garment made of leather or fur, of Celtic origin
Word Origin and History for gown
n.

c.1300, from Old French goune "robe, coat, habit, gown," from Late Latin gunna "leather garment, skin, hide," of unknown origin. Used by St. Boniface (8c.) for a fur garment permitted for old or infirm monks. Klein writes it is probably "a word adopted from a language of the Apennine or the Balkan Peninsula." OED points to Byzantine Greek gouna, a word for a coarse garment sometimes made of skins, but also notes "some scholars regard [Late Latin gunna] as of Celtic origin."

In 18c., gown was the common word for what is now usually styled a dress. It was maintained more in the U.S. than in Britain, but was somewhat revived 20c. in fashion senses and in comb. forms (e.g. bridal gown, nightgown). Meaning "flowing robe worn as a badge of office or authority" is from late 14c., on image of the Roman toga. As collective singular for "residents of a university" (1650s) it usually now is opposed to town.

gown in Medicine

gown (goun)
n.
A robe or smock worn in operating rooms and other parts of hospitals as a guard against contamination.

Idioms and Phrases with gown

gown

see: