costume Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the attire worn in a play or at a fancy dress ball
    • he won the prize for best costume
  2. noun unusual or period attire not characteristic of or appropriate to the time and place
    • in spite of the heat he insisted on his woolen costume
  3. noun the prevalent fashion of dress (including accessories and hair style as well as garments)
  4. noun the attire characteristic of a country or a time or a social class
    • he wore his national costume
  5. verb dress in a costume
    dress up.
    • We dressed up for Halloween as pumpkins
  6. verb furnish with costumes; as for a film or play

WordNet

Cos"tume` noun
Etymology
F. costume, It. costume custom, dress, fr. L. consuetumen (not found), for consuetudo custom. See Custom, and cf. Consuetude.
Definitions
  1. Dress in general; esp., the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period.
  2. Such an arrangement of accessories, as in a picture, statue, poem, or play, as is appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described.
    I began last night to read Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel . . . .I was extremely delighted with the poetical beauty of some parts . . . .The costume, too, is admirable. Sir J. Mackintosh.
  3. A character dress, used at fancy balls or for dramatic purposes.

Webster 1913