cummerbund

English

WOTD – 16 September 2018

Etymology

A drawing of a cummerbund worn as part of a man’s evening wear[1]
An evening dress with a black velvet cummerbund, designed about 1912 by British fashion designer Lucile (Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon)[2]

From Hindi कमरबन्द (kamarband) and Urdu کمر بند‎ (kamar band, “belt, waistband”), from Persian کمربند‎ (kamarband), from کمر‎ (kamar, “waist”) + بند‎ (band, “band”).

Pronunciation

Noun

cummerbund (plural cummerbunds)

  1. (fashion) A broad sash, especially one that is pleated lengthwise and worn as an article of formal dress, as around a man's waist together with a tuxedo or dinner jacket. [from early 17th c.]
    • 1927, F[anny] E[mily Farr] Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings, London: Hodder and Stoughton, OCLC 14705422, OL 16814587W:
      Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines.
    • 2005 June 13, Edmund White, “My Women: Learning How to Love Them”, in The New Yorker‎, archived from the original on 10 May 2016:
      The thin boys with their brush cuts and spotty faces, their dinner jackets and burgundy cummerbunds with matching bow ties, would gape at us.

Alternative forms

Descendants

Translations

References

  1. ↑ By David Ring, from the collection of the ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen (Fashion Museum of the Province of Antwerp) in Antwerp, Belgium.
  2. ↑ From the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, UK.

Further reading

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