Clothe

v. Pa. t. and pa. pple. clothed, clad. Forms: α. 1 cláðian, 2–4 claþe-n, 3 cloðe-n, (cloþi), 3–4 cloþe-n, 4 clooþe, (clode), 5–8 cloth, (6 clote), 6–9 cloath, -e, 4– clothe. Also north. 3–5 clath(e, 6–9 Sc. claith, claeth. Pa. t. and pple. 3– clothed, (north. clathed, etc.). β. (1 clǽðan); Pa. t. 4–5 cladde, 3– clad; Pa. pple. 4– clad, 4–6 cladd-e, 5–6 clade, 6 ycladd, 6–9 yclad, (7 clod). Forms with e, see CLEAD. [There are two types of this verb, both rare in OE.: α. OE. cláðian, of which the pa. pple. ʓecláded for ʓeclaðed, -od occurs. Hence ME. clāthe, clothe (the former retained in north dial.), inflected clathed, clothed. β. OE. clǽðan, with pa. t. clǽðde, *clædde, whence ME. cladde, clad, and prob. the northern type clethe, cledde, cled (formerly referred to Norse klæða): see CLEAD. The former belongs to a type *klaiþójan, the latter to *klaiþjan, both f. *klaiþo^m (or ? klaiþoz-) a CLOTH. Cf. MHG. and mod.G. kleiden, LG., Du. kleeden, EFris. klêden. ON. had klæða, going with the ON. form of the sb. klæði.

  Both forms of the pa. t. and pple. have come down to modern use. Clod, occas. found in 16–17th c. was either a late shortening of cloth’d, cloath’d, or a mixture of these with clad. The form yclad, very rare in ME., was revived by the Elizabethan archaists, after whom it has become a ‘Spenserian’ form in later poets.]

  1.  trans. To cover with a garment or with clothing; to provide with clothing; to dress.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark v. 15. Sittende ʓecladed & hales ðohtes. Ibid., Matt. xxv. 36. Nacod and ʓie clæðdon vel wriʓon meh.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 2710. To fedenn hemm & claþenn.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2120. Ioseph was … shauen, & clad, & to him broȝt. Ibid., 2630. And fedde it wel and cloðen dede.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 20312. Wel fed & cladd. Ibid., 20121 (Brit. Mus. Add. MS.), App. ii. Naked & hungry sche cloþed & fedde.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 774. Þai cladde hom clenly.

1508.  Fisher, Wks., 259. Commaunded also his seruauntes to cloth hym.

1632.  Quarles, Div. Fancies, IV. ciii. 209.

1667.  Milton, P. L., X. 219. And thought not much to cloath his Enemies.

1777.  W. Dalrymple, Trav. Sp. & Port., xxvi. To cloathe all the troops.

1864.  Tennyson, Aylmer’s Field, 699. The hand that … often toil’d to clothe your little ones.

  b.  Constr. with, in.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 3675 (Trin.). She … clad him wiþ þo cloþes mete.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 341. Thoo spake this lady clothed al in grene.

1530.  Palsgr., 488/1. I clothe me in sylke.

1611.  Bible, Prov. xxiii. 21. Drousinesse shall cloath a man with ragges.

1667.  Milton, P. L., X. 216. He clad Thir nakedness with Skins of Beasts.

1852.  Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. xli. 356. His keepers clad him in mean … garments.

  c.  refl.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 53. Heo … claþeð heom mid ʓeoluwe claþe.

c. 1300.  Havelok, 1354. Sone it was day, sone he him cladde.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 7. Up he rose, and clad him hastily.

a. 1626.  Bacon, New Atl., 14. To cloath themselves with the skins of Tigers, Bears.

1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 111. He … clad himself with the slave’s clothes.

  2.  intr. (for refl.) To clothe oneself or be clothed.

1393.  Gower, Conf., I. 14. The tresor … Wherof the pouer shulden clothe And ete and drinke and house bothe.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 266. Care no more to cloath and eate.

1853.  Landor, Works, I. 446. They lie among coral, and clothe in feathers, or are in buff. Ibid., II. 141. He ordered men to take no thought of what they put on, and, indeed, not to clothe at all.

  † 3.  trans. To put on as clothing, to don. Obs.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter cviii. 18. And malloc [cursing] he cled als wede.

1382.  Wyclif, Ibid. He cladde cursing as clothing. Ibid. (1388). He clothide cursing as a cloth.

c. 1400.  J. Arderne, in Rel. Ant., I. 191. He did of al his knyghtly clothings, and cladde mournyng clothes.

  4.  By extension: To cover or fit out with armor, ornaments, or other things worn on the body.

1382.  Wyclif, Ex. xxxiii. 4. And noon was clothid with his ournyng bi custom.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 11. In mighty armes he was yclad anon, And silver shield.

1611.  Bible, Ezek. xxxviii. 4. All thine armie, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 188. Their naked armes are only clothed with Bracelets of siluer and iuory.

  5.  To cover (anything) with a cloth or cloths.

c. 1340.  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 885. Sone watz telded vp a tapit, on trestez ful fayre, Clad wyth a clene cloþe, þat cler quyt schewed.

c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 252. A fether bed … right wel cled In fyne blacke Sattyn doutremere.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 106. Þe marchall … euell coude his Craft, whan he cloþed þe stede.

1614.  Markham, Cheap Husb., I. v. (1668), 39. To cloath a horse right.

1703.  Pope, Thebais, 607. Embroider’d purple clothes the golden beds.

  b.  Naut. To rig (a ship, mast, etc.).

1714.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5235/4. British Sail Cloth … the Royal Navy hath been wholly Clothed with the same, for many Years.

c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 18. What is meant by clothing the yards?
  Fitting them with rigging at the yard arms, and slings, &c.

1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 46. How is a bowsprit clothed?

  6.  transf. To cover as with clothing, or as clothing does.

1382.  Wyclif, Job x. 11. With fel and flesh thou hast clad me. Ibid., Isa. l. 3. I shal clothin heuenes with dercnesses. Ibid., Matt. vi. 30. For ȝif God clothith thus the heye of the feeld.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1639. Toures … þat were of heght so hoge … þat the clowdes hom clede in vnclene ayre.

1647.  Cowley, Mistress, Clad all in White, i. (1669), 13. Thou wilt seem much whiter so, Than Winter when ’tis clad with snow.

1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort., 218. Cover them [the plants] with Glasses, having cloathed them with sweet and dry Moss.

1718.  J. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos. (1730), II. xviii. § 37. Take a lighted Pipe of Tobacco … cloathing it with Paper if it be too hot.

1863.  Geo. Eliot, Romola, I. v. That portion of the city which clothes the southern bank of the river.

  b.  Said of vegetation or the like as it covers and furnishes the face of the earth.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 129. Now hath thatempre sonne … clad yt new again.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. xvi. (1495), 323. The sonne clotheth and renewyth thouer parte of therth wyth herbes twygges and floures.

1611.  Bible, Ps. lxv. 13. The pastures are cloathed with flockes.

1703.  Rowe, Fair Penit., III. i. Who clothes the senseless Earth, With Woods, with Fruits, with Flow’rs and verdant Grass.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 156. The land … is well clothed with timber.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Demerara, i. 2. Coffee plantations clothe the sides of the hills.

  c.  Leaves and blossoms are said to clothe trees and plants.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Past., III. 82. The Trees are cloath’d with Leaves.

1808.  Scott, Marm., I. Introd. 44. Will spring return … And blossoms clothe the hawthorn spray?

1847.  Tennyson, Princess, IV. 89. Delaying as the tender ash delays To clothe herself, when all the woods are green.

  7.  fig. a. With immediate reference to the literal sense.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 802 (Cott.). Quen þai sagh ham self al bare, Þat welth and blis had cleþed ar [Gött. In welth and bliss was clad are].

c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Tr., 15. A saule þat … es clede in vertus.

1382.  Wyclif, Isa. lix. 17. He is clad with riȝtwisnesse as with an habirioun.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. cviii. [cix.] 18. He clothed him self with cursynge like as with a rayment.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. xi. Thus he [Man] is also said to be clothed with a Body.

  b.  To invest or endue with attributes, qualities, or a character.

1611.  Bible, Job xxxix. 19. Hast thou clothed his necke with thunder?

1621.  W. Sclater, Tythes (1623), 88. Cloathed with cæremoniousnesse by the High Priest of our Profession.

1682.  Bunyan, Holy War, To Rdr. A 2.

1844.  Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., i. (1862), 10. So long as men are clothed with human infirmities.

1866.  Bryant, Death Slavery, ii. A glory clothes the land from sea to sea.

1880.  T. A. Spalding, Eliz. Demonol., 39. Spenser has clothed with horror this conception.

  c.  To endow with power, privilege or liability; also in Sc. Law, with a husband.

1754.  Erskine, Princ. Sc. Law (1809), 13. The judicial ratifications of women clothed with husbands.

1788.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 493. The clauses … clothing consuls with privileges of the law of nations.

1789.  Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xiii. § 1. Cases in which the individual is clothed with great powers.

1827.  J. Powell, Devises (ed. 3), II. 161. That another estate should be cloathed with the same trusts.

1847.  R. Chambers, Pop. Rhymes Scotl. (1858), 221. He was clothed wi’ a wife and a wean forbye.

  8.  fig. With reference to putting on or assuming a form or appearance: in early use sometimes ‘to cloak’ under or with an assumed form; in later to represent or embody in a particular form.

1393.  Gower, Conf., I. 62. He [an ypocrite] clotheth richesse as men saine Vnder the simplest of pouerte.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., I. iii. 336. And thus I cloath my naked villanie With odde old ends, stolne forth of holy Writ. Ibid. (1604), Oth., III. iv. 120. So shall I cloath me in a forc’d content.

1646.  Saltmarsh, Reasons for Vnitie, in Some Drops, 128. Though you have cloathed your selfe in their Apologeticall Narration, yet I must deale with you as your self.

1869.  Trollope, He knew, etc. xlviii. (1878), 270. [He] struggled hard, but vainly, to clothe his face in a pleasant smile.

  b.  To put (thoughts or ideas) into words; to express in (or with).

1671.  Milton, P. R., II. 65. Some troubl’d thoughts which she in sighs thus clad.

1673.  Ray, Journ. Low C., Pref. Mr. Willughby’s voyage which he himself would doubtless have cloathed with better language.

1741.  Watts, Improv. Mind (1801), 212. Clothe those ideas with words.

1771.  Junius Lett., lxi. 316. Clothe it in what language you will.

1779–81.  Johnson, L. P., Dyer, Wks. IV. 212. Cloathing small images in great words.

1850.  H. Rogers, Ess., I. iii. 102. He has clothed the determinate quantities of arithmetic in the universal symbols of algebra.

  9.  Clothe upon or on. In N. T. a literalism of translation: ? to put on over other clothes; but cf. Ger. ankleiden and late L. superinduĕre to put on. arch.

1611.  Bible, 2 Cor. v. 2. Desiring to be clothed vpon [ἐπενδύσασθαι, superindui: Wyclif clothed above, Rhem. overclothed, 16th c. vv. clothed] with our house, which is from heauen.

1842.  Tennyson, Godiva. Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity.