long, loose outer garment, c. 1300, from Old French goune "robe, coat; (nun's) habit, gown," related to Late Latin gunna "leather garment, skin, hide," of unknown origin. Used by St. Boniface (8c.) for a fur garment permitted for old or infirm monks. Klein writes that it is probably "a word adopted from a language of the Apennine or the Balkan Peninsula." OED points to Byzantine Greek gouna, a word for a coarse garment sometimes made of skins, but also notes "some scholars regard it as of Celtic origin."
In 18c., gown was the common word for what now usually is styled a dress. It was maintained more in the U.S. than in Britain, but was somewhat revived 20c. in fashion senses and in combinations (such as bridal gown, nightgown). Meaning "flowing robe worn on official occasions as a badge of office or authority" is from late 14c. As collective singular for "residents of a university" (1650s) it typically is used in rhyming opposition to town.
双语例句
1. She crept from the bed and fumbled for her dressing gown.
她从床上蹑手蹑脚地爬起来，摸索着自己的晨衣。
来自柯林斯例句
2. I was shoehorning myself into my skin-tight ball gown.
我正拼命把自己塞进我的紧身晚礼服里。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Wood was now comfortably enfolded in a woolly dressing-gown.
伍德正舒服地穿着件羊毛晨衣。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Her gown was thin, and she shivered, partly from cold.
她的礼服很薄，浑身在发抖，一半是冻的。
来自柯林斯例句
5. She finally found the perfect gown, a beautiful creation trimmed with lace.
