attire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion

   Formal attire.

2. 2
   verb

   to put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive

   I attire myself in the finest linens.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Attire is a Middle English word that originally meant “to put in order.” The later noun tire for a wheel’s outer covering was probably shortened from it, with that covering imagined as the wheel’s clothing.

The verb is from Middle English atyren, atiren, from Old French atirier (“to equip”), from a- + tire (“rank”), akin to German Zier (“ornament”) and Old Norse tírr (“glory, renown”). The noun is from Middle English atir, from the verb.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary