abiliment
Main Entry: abiliment Pronunciation Guide
obsolete
variant ofHABILIMENT
Main Entry: ha·bil·i·ment Pronunciation Guide
Pronunciation: hbilmnt
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): -s
Etymology: Middle French habillement, from abillier, habiller to prepare a log for working, prepare, dress (from bille log, trunk) + -ment -- more at BILLET
1 habiliments plural : TRAPPINGS, EQUIPMENT, GEAR <the disintegrative process of the frontier ... stripping them of the habiliments of civilization -- W.P.Webb> <all the psychological trappings and habiliments of a crusade -- W.A.White>
2 habiliments plural, archaic : necessary equipment and material (as for war) : OUTFITTING
3 a : the dress suited to or characteristic of a calling, occupation, or occasion : GARB, COSTUME, VESTMENT -- usually used in plural <dressed in shabby gaucho habiliments -- W.H.Hudson died 1922> <habiliments of a priest> <the antique forms and habiliments which their Roman ancestors had found congenial -- G.C.Sellery> b : CLOTHES, GARMENT, DRESS -- usually used in plural <pointed in silence to my torn and muddied habiliments -- Hugh McCrae> <seize a buttonhole, or any little bit of the habiliments, of the man she was addressing -- George Meredith>
