The Collaborative International Dictionary
Habiliment \Ha*bil"i*ment\ (h[.a]*b[i^]l"[i^]*ment), n. [F. habillement, fr. habiller to dress, clothe, orig., to make fit, make ready, fr. habile apt, skillful, L. habilis. See Habile.]
A garment; an article of clothing.
--Camden.pl. Dress, in general.
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
often habiliments, early 15c., "munitions, weapons," from Middle French habillement, from abiller "prepare or fit out," probably from habile "fit, suitable" (see able). Alternative etymology [Barnhart, Klein] makes the French verb originally mean "reduce a tree by stripping off the branches," from a- "to" + bille "stick of wood." Sense of "clothing, dress" developed late 15c., by association with habit (n.).
Wiktionary
n. 1 clothes, especially clothing appropriate for someone's job, status, or to an occasion. 2 Equipment or furnishings characteristic of a place or being; trappings.
Usage examples of "habiliment".
As soon as the Bucentaur was in its station, some thirty or forty gondoliers were brought forth, clad in their gayest habiliments, and surrounded and supported by crowds of anxious friends and relatives.
Moreover there be divers, that to the intent to shew their grace and feature, wil cast off their partlets, collars, habiliments, fronts, cornets and krippins, and doe more delight to shew the fairnesse of their skinne, than to deck themselves up in gold and pretious stones.
Magnificently attired, the Marquis of Buckingham as far outshone his companions in splendour of habiliments as he did in stateliness of carriage and beauty of person.
The latter was richly attired, but had not changed the sombre hue of his habiliments, even for the anticipated ceremonial, being clad, as usual, in black.
I was facing a door about twenty feet distant, which exactly as I opened my eyes, turned slowly on its hinges, and the figure of Uncle Lorne, in his loose flannel habiliments, ineffaceably traced upon my memory, like every other detail of that ill-omened apparition, glided into the room, and crossing the thick carpet with long, soft steps, passed near me, looking upon me with a malign sort of curiosity for some two or three seconds, and sat down by the declining fire, with a side-long glance still fixed upon me.
It was the body of an old man, gorgeously arrayed in the habiliments of a rajah, wearing, as in life, a turban embroidered with pearls, a robe of tissue of silk and gold, a scarf of cashmere sewed with diamonds, and the magnificent weapons of a Hindoo prince.
What was her astonishment to find herself in this carriage, on the railway, dressed in European habiliments, and with travellers who were quite strangers to her!
That is not my case, and I would fain be more decent in my habiliments, which do not properly become even my modest situation in life.
My astonishment was considerable when it became evident to me that the vicar himself was disporting in the water, which, reaching no higher than his waist, disclosed him in the ordinary habiliments of his cloth.
Honour: for, as the soul of the waiting-woman was wrapt up in those very habiliments which used to enwrap her body, she could by no means bring herself to trust them out of her sight.
Life and Death, Love and Youth, Hope and Time, become persons in poetry, not that they may wear the tawdry habiliments of the studio, but because persons are the objects of the most familiar sympathy and the most intimate knowledge.
Moreover there be divers, that to the intent to shew their grace and feature, wil cast off their partlets, collars, habiliments, fronts, cornets and krippins, and doe more delight to shew the fairnesse of their skinne, than to deck themselves up in gold and pretious stones.
But, to change the venue to the Bulgar and the Basque, have you made up your mind whether you like or dislike women in male habiliments?
Forth came that auncient Lord and aged Queene,Arayd in antique robes downe to the ground,And sad habiliments right well beseene.
Preceded by a gentleman usher, and followed by a throng of esquires, henchmen, and pages, in superb habiliments, he was accompanied by the Constable of the Tower and Lord Lisle.