Information About

Clotheshorse




The first known use of this word in print, in this sense, was in 1775 .

Clotheshorse also refers to a person dressed in a conspicuous and showy way.
By 1850 this figurative sense of the word was in common use, appearing in the writings Thomas Carlyle amongst others, who wrote of "''idlers, game-preservers, and mere human clothes-horses''" ('' Latter Day Pamphlets '', No. III. ''DOWNING STREET'', April 1 , 1850 ).

The intended implication of this usage was that the person's main function was simply to wear clothes, and that he or she had no other use.

A person who has so many clothes that she cannot wear most of them in a year. New Usage, January 2006, Conselkroy.