costume

plural costumes

1. countableuncountableA style of dress, including garments, accessories and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period or people.

   the sight of thousands of people gathered to watch men walk the streets openly in female costume

   1971, Tonie Metie, “Unmasquerade”, in Body Politic, number 1, page 1

   1 more example

   The apology came after a netizen claimed Soberano was supposedly doing a black face, but the latter said, in defense, it was just a “costume.”

   2019, Krissy Aguilar, “Liza Soberano Apologizes for Comments on ‘Black Face’”, in Philippine Daily Inquirer

2. countableuncountableAn outfit or a disguise worn as fancy dress etc.

   We wore gorilla costumes to the party.

3. countableuncountableA set of clothes appropriate for a particular occasion or season.

   The bride wore a grey going-away costume.

4. countableuncountableA swimming costume.

   They call their bathing suits down there "costumes."

   1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer

present singular third person costumes · participle present costuming · participle past costumed · past costumed

1. To dress or adorn with a costume or appropriate garb.

   Seated on the carpet, by the side of this basin, was seen Mr. Rochester, costumed in shawls, with a turban on his head. His dark eyes and swarthy skin and Paynim features suited the costume exactly. He looked the very model of an Eastern emir, an agent or a victim of the bowstring.

   1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   "The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face.

   1942 March, “Notes and News: Monument to a Stillborn Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 88