hooverette

H4O1O1V4E1R1E1T1T1E1

noun

A simple housedress with robe-style sash and wrap front, worn especially in United States in the 1930s and 1940s, with one section overlapping another; when dirty, the overlap could be reversed so a clean section was on top again, reducing laundry.

Scrabble 16
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Meanings

hooverette1

nounhooverette (plural hooverettes)

plural hooverettes

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Hooverette.

    WHAT TO LOOK FOR: SMOCKS include the snug-fitting hooverette, […]

    1943, Consumer Reports
    4 more examples

    Cotton broadcloth hooverette gives double service by reversing the overlapping front

    1936, Fashions of the Hour

    And over her dress she wore the hooverette. She didn't wear it for any hygienic purpose, only to protect her dress.

    1937, Oral Hygiene

    More than two months after her request she received an allotment: two panties, two dresses, two hooverettes, […]

    1982, Lois Rita Helmbold, Making Choices, Making Do: Black and White Working Class Women's Lives and Work During the Great Depression

    “How can I ever forget October 11th, 1919?” Hanna replied and smiled at Aaron. She blushed remembering their wedding night. “Play it, Ma,” shouted Etta as she tugged Hanna's hooverette dress. Hanna lifted the lid on the top of the Victrola.

    2003, Eva B. Moses, To Plant Heaven, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 87

Hooverette2

nounHooverette (plural Hooverettes)

plural Hooverettes · alternative hooverette

  1. A simple housedress with robe-style sash and wrap front, worn especially in United States in the 1930s and 1940s, with one section overlapping another; when dirty, the overlap could be reversed so a clean section was on top again, reducing laundry.

    The Hooverette can be worn as a dress or as an apron.

    1932, Elmer Wheeler, Tested Selling Sentences (the Language of the Brain): Master Book
    2 more examples

    “I have so few opportunities to wear such a dress, that I thought I'd better take every one that offered.” “In Paris you would need such a frock every evening,” observed Lynnette admiringly. “I'd rather stay at home and wear Hooverettes […]”

    1937, Lucy Poate Stebbins, The Golden Carlotta

    During this period, Sears, Roebuck and Company sold Hooverettes, which were inexpensive, simple, wraparound dresses. They were reversible, so the whole dress could be flipped inside out for a different look.

    2010, Mary Beth Klatt, Chicago's Fashion History: 1865 - 1945, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN

Origin

Like many things used by impoverished people during the Great Depression (e.g. Hoover hogs, Hoovervilles), the dress was named after Herbert Hoover, US president when the Depression began, + -ette. (It has also been suggested that the name might not refer to the inexpensiveness but liken the dress's effectiveness as work clothing to Hoover's pre-presidential career as an effective administrator of aid to Europe after the First World War.)

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hooverette. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hooverette

MLA

“hooverette.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hooverette. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hooverette,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hooverette.

Source: hooverette on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.