clothes-horsen.
a. An upright wooden frame standing upon legs, with horizontal bars on which clothes are hung out to dry or air.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > frame for hanging washing on to dry
hake1689
horse1706
winter dyke1748
maid1795
clothes-horse1807
winter hedge1812
airer1817
clothes-screen1832
linen-horse1845
maiden1856
maiden maker?1881
1807 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life II. xix. 224 You look like a clothes-horse, with a great-coat stretched out upon it, just ready for the rattan.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. I. 226 We keep no horse but a clothes-horse.
1883 J. Hawthorne Dust I. 60 Wringing out a towel and spreading it out on the clothes-horse to dry.
b. figurative. A person whose main function is or appears to be to wear or show off clothes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [noun] > one who wears or shows off clothes
clothes-horse1850
1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets iii. 37 Idlers, game-preservers and mere human clothes-horses.
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxxiii. 420 I could..see her [sc. England] erect statues and monuments to her unspeakable Georges and other royal and noble clothes-horses.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §452/4 Clothes-horse, an overdressed woman.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §574/7 Clothes horse, a woman who acts as a clothes model.
1948 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 22 July 18/2 (headline) Janis Paige, Best Clothes-horse, Looks Good Here, Too.
1962 J. Ludwig in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 249 She ordered her chauffeur to drive her to Fifi's, Shmifi's—a fancy French place for clothes horses.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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n.1807