tailor
UK /ˈteɪlə/ · US /ˈteɪlɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms tailors tailoring tailored tailour taylor taylour
- noun A person who makes, repairs, or alters clothes professionally, especially suits and men's clothing. “He works as a tailor on Swanston Street.”
- noun (Australia) Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).
- verb (ambitransitive) To make, repair, or alter clothes. “We can tailor that jacket for you if you like.”
- verb (figurative, transitive) To make or adapt (something) for a specific need. “The website was tailored to the client's needs.”
- verb (figurative, transitive) To restrict (something) in order to meet a particular need. “a narrowly tailored law”
- proper noun A surname originating as an occupation for a tailor.
Synonyms
needleworker tailorer bluefish fit shape seamster sartor orient cut sew tailor-make
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English taillour, from Anglo-Norman taillour, from Old French tailleor, from taillier, from Late Latin tāliō, from Latin tālea (“a cutting”). Doublet of tailleur.
Compare typologically German Schneider (akin to English snithe); Macedonian кројач (krojač), Polish krawiec (akin to Proto-Slavic *krojiti).
From tailor. Doublet of Taylor.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One whose occupation is to cut out and make men's garments; also, one who cuts out and makes ladies' outer garments.
- noun (a) The mattowacca; --called also tailor herring.
- verb To practice making men's clothes; to follow the business of a tailor.
Etymology [OF. tailleor, F. tailleur, fr. OF. taillier, F. tailler to cut, fr. L. talea a rod, stick, a cutting, layer for planting. Cf. Detail, Entail, Retail, Tally, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tailor”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details