Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Costume
Cos′tumeˊ
(k?s′t?mˊ or k?s-t?m′)
, Noun.
[F.
costume
, It. costume
custom, dress, fr. L. consuetumen
(not found), for consuetudo
custom. See Custom
, and cf. Consuetude
.] 1.
Dress in general; esp., the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period.
2.
Such an arrangement of accessories, as in a picture, statue, poem, or play, as is appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described.
I began last night to read Walter Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel . . . .I was extremely delighted with the poetical beauty of some parts . . . .The
costume
, too, is admirable. Sir J. Mackintosh.
3.
A character dress, used at fancy balls or for dramatic purposes.
Webster 1828 Edition
Costume
COSTUME
,Noun.
1.
In painting, a rule or precept by which an artist is enjoined to make every person and thing sustain its proper character, observing the scene of action, the country or place, and making the habits, arms, manners, and proportions correspond. Hence, the observance of this rule in execution.2.
An established mode of dress.