finery

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   showy, elegant, or elaborate clothes, jewellery, and ornaments

   The guests arrived in silk gowns and other festive finery.

2. 2
   noun

   ornate decoration or splendour more generally

   The restrained stone facade contrasts with the gilded finery inside.

Formed in English from fine + -ery. Earlier uses could denote fineness, refinement, or an elaborate detail; by the seventeenth century the word commonly referred to costly or showy dress and ornament. It is normally a collective, uncountable noun in its modern clothing sense.

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