Careful Words

clothes (n.)

  Sir Henry Wotton used to say that critics are like brushers of noblemen's clothes.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Apothegms. No. 64.

P.  What riches give us let us then inquire:

Meat, fire, and clothes. B.  What more? P.  Meat, fine clothes, and fire.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 79.

Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;

Robes and furr'd gowns hide all.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear. Act iv. Sc. 6.

Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iv. Sc. 5.

A sweet disorder in the dress

Kindles in clothes a wantonness.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674): Delight in Disorder.

A kind and gentle heart he had,

To comfort friends and foes;

The naked every day he clad

When he put on his clothes.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.