swaddling clothes

noun

A garment, made of strips of cloth, used to bind an infant and restrict movement of its limbs.

Similar
swaddling bands
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Meanings

nounswaddling clothes pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyA garment, made of strips of cloth, used to bind an infant and restrict movement of its limbs.
  2. idiomaticpluralplural onlyAn early period in development, infancy, the beginnings of something; inception.

    1954, Academy Site May Be Chosen May 15, St Petersburg Times, 11 May issue The Air Force Academy, baby brother to West Point and Annapolis, is crawling out of its swaddling clothes.

    1 more example

    The steel—industry wore swaddling clothes when the first walkout occurred exactly 100 years ago.

    1952, Steel Industry Union Strife Has Been In Progress For Even Century, "The Day" issue of June the 4th, 1952

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna garment (a gown or narrow strips of cloth) for an infant

Similar
swaddling bands
Broader
garment

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Ancient Greek σπάργανον
  • σπάργανον (spárganon)garment
Catalan bolquers
  • bolquersgarment
Chinese Mandarin 襁褓
  • 襁褓 (qiǎngbǎo)garment
Finnish kapalot, kapaloaste
  • kapalotgarment
  • kapaloasteearly period in development
French langes
  • langesgarment
Greek φάσκιωμα
  • φάσκιωμα (fáskioma)garment
Hungarian pólya
  • pólyagarment
Latin incūnābula
  • incūnābulagarment
Persian اشتک, قنداق
  • اشتک (eštak)garment
  • قنداق (qondâq)garment
Polish powijak, powijak
  • powijakgarment
  • powijakearly period in development
Portuguese manta
  • mantagarment
Romanian fașă
  • fașăgarment
Russian пелёнки, свива́льники
  • пелёнки (peljónki)garment
  • свива́льники (sviválʹniki)garment
Spanish empañadura
  • empañaduragarment
Turkish kundak
  • kundakgarment
Cite this entry
APA

swaddling clothes. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swaddling%20clothes

MLA

“swaddling clothes.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swaddling%20clothes. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “swaddling clothes,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swaddling%20clothes.

Source: swaddling clothes on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.