garderobe

See also: Garderobe and garde-robe

English

Alternative forms

• garde-robe

Etymology

From Middle English garderobe, from Middle French garderobe (from garder (“to keep safe”) +‎ robe (“dress”)). Doublet of wardrobe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːdɹəʊb/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑɹdɹoʊb/
• Hyphenation: gar‧de‧robe

Noun

garderobe (plural garderobes)

1. (historical) A storeroom or wardrobe.
2. (historical) A lavatory, especially in a castle and built into the outer wall, with vent directly over the moat or midden.
   • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 444:

     He splashed some tepid water on his face from the basin beside his bed and took his time squatting in the garderobe, the night air cold on his bare skin.

   • 2000, Alan Brooks-Tyreman, Jane Shuter, Kate Smith, Britain, 1066-1500, Heinemann Educational, page 30:

     In the early medieval period (1066-1300), the solution in huge stone castles was garderobes: small rooms that jutted out over the walls with a hole covered by a seat. Castle builders tried to site garderobes over a stream or a moat, but this was not always possible.

   • 2001, Paul B. Newman, Daily Life in the Middle Ages, McFarland & Company, page 144:

     Even with the seat, most garderobes in castles did not encourage long stays. […] Despite the unappealing and unsanitary nature of garderobe shafts, besieging forces on more than one occasion successfully entered castles by having men climb up the shafts.

Translations

lavatory, especially in a castle and built into the outer wall, with vent directly over the moat or midden.

• German: Aborterker (de) m

See also

• reredorter

References

• “garderobe”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French garde-robe.

Noun

garderobe m (definite singular garderoben, indefinite plural garderober, definite plural garderobene)

1. a cloakroom
2. a dressing room, changing room, or locker room
3. a wardrobe (the clothes a person owns)

Derived terms

• garderobeskap

References

• “garderobe” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French garde-robe.

Noun

garderobe m (definite singular garderoben, indefinite plural garderobar, definite plural garderobane)

1. a cloakroom
2. a dressing room, changing room, or locker room
3. a wardrobe (the clothes a person owns)

Derived terms

• garderobeskap

References

• “garderobe” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.