Gown

Gown (pronounced goun) 

(1) A type of woman's dress or robe, especially one full-length and worn on formal occasions and often styled as “evening gown” or “ball gown”.

(2) As nightgown, a loose fitting garment worn by sleeping (historically by both men & women but now most associated with the latter); the shortened for is “nightie”.

(3) As surgical gown, a light, protective garment worn in hospitals by medical staff, a specialized form of which is the isolation gown.

(4) As dressing gown (also call bathrobe), a garment in the form of an open robe secured by a tie and often worn over pajamas, after a bath and prior to dressing or on other occasions where there’s no immediate need to dress.

(5) A loose, flowing outer garment in various forms, worn to denote an office held, profession practiced or as an indication of rank or status, most associated with formal academic dress (sometimes in the phrase “cap & gown”).

(6) Those who work or study at a university as opposed to the other residents of the university town, expressed in the phrase “town & gown”.

(7) Historically, the dress of civil, as opposed to military officers.

(8) To supply with or dress in a gown.

1300-1350: From Middle English goune & gowne, from Anglo-Norman gune & goune (fur-trimmed coat, pelisse), from the Old French goune (robe, coat; nun's habit), from the Late Latin gunna (a garment of fur or leather), from the Ancient Greek γούνα (goúna) (coarse garment), of unknown origin but may be from a Balkan or Apennine language where it seems to have been used as early as the eighth century to describe a fur (or fur-lined), cloak-like garment worn by old or infirm monks; More speculatively, some scholars suggest a Celtic source.  The alternative explanation suggests a Scythian origin, from the Proto-Iranian gawnám (fur), the possibility of this link supported by the Younger Avestan gaona (body hair) and the Ossetian гъун (ǧun).  The alternative spelling gowne is obsolete and descendants in other languages include the Bengali গাউন (gaun), the Japanese ガウン, the Korean  가운 (gaun), the Malay gaun, the Punjabi ਗਾਊਨ (gāūna) and the Welsh gown.  Gown is a noun and verb and gowned is an adjective; the noun plural is gowns.

Surgeon in blood-splattered surgical gown (also called hospital or medical gowns), mid-surgery.

As late as the eighteenth century, gown was the common word for what is now usually described as dress and gown in this sense persisted in the US longer than in the UK and there was on both sides of the Atlantic something of a twentieth century revival and the applied uses (bridal gown, nightgown etc) became more or less universal.  The meaning “a loose, flowing outer garment in various forms, worn to denote an office held, profession practiced or as an indication of rank” emerged in the late fourteenth century and the collective singular for “residents of a university” dates from the 1650s, still heard in the rhyming phrase “town & gown”.  The night-gown (worn once by both men & women but now associated almost exclusively with the latter) became a thing in the fourteenth century.

Lindsay Lohan in white & black color-blocked bandage dress.

Dress dates from circa 1300 and was from the Middle English dressen & dresse (to arrange, put in order), from the Anglo-Norman & Old French dresser, drecier (which persists in as dresser), from the unattested Vulgar Latin dīrēctiāre, from the Classical Latin dīrēctus, the perfect passive participle of dīrigō (to arrange in lines, direct, steer), the construct being dis- (the prefix in this context meaning “apart; asunder; in two’) + regō (to govern, manage), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European h₃reǵ- (straight, right).  The noun dress was derived from the verb and emerged in the sense of “attire” in the early 1600s.  Originally, a dress was always something which covered both the upper and lower parts of the female body but not of necessity in once piece.  The dressing gown seems first to have been described as such in 1854 although in French both robe de chambre (dressing gown) & robe de nuit (nightgown) had been in use for centuries.

Lindsay Lohan in dressing gowns; in the US such things would usually be called bathrobes.

Robe dates from the mid-thirteenth century Middle English robe & robbe and was from the Old French robe, robbe & reube (booty, spoils of war, robe, garment), from the Frankish rouba & rauba (booty, spoils, stolen clothes (literally “things taken”)), from the Old High German roub, from the Proto-Germanic raubō, raubaz & raubą (booty, that which is stripped or carried away), from the primitive Indo-European Hrewp- (to tear away, peel off).  The noun use of robe to refer to garments had entered general use by the late thirteenth century, an adoption of a meaning from the Old French, presumably because fine clothing looted from defeated enemies were among the most prized of the spoils of war.  The Old French robe (and the alternative spellings) had as concurrent meanings both “clothing” & “plunder: as did the Germanic forms including the Old English reaf (plunder, booty, spoil; garment, armor, vestment).  By the late thirteenth century robe had assumed the meaning “a long, loose outer garment reaching almost to the floor, worn by men or women over other dress”, those closest European equivalents being the twelfth century Old French robe (long, loose outer garment) and the Old High German rouba (vestments).  In royal, academic and ecclesiastical circles, the particular style of robes became regulated to denote rank, function or or membership of a religious order and royal courts would include offices like “page of the robes”, “mistress of the robes”, master of the robes etc” although those titles are (to modern eyes) misleading because their responsibilities extended to garments generally and not just robes as they’re now understood.  The metonymic sense of “the robe” for "the legal profession" dates from the 1640s, a reference to the dark robes worn by advocates when appearing in court.  Robe went on productively to be adopted for other purposes including (1) in the US “the skin of a bison (later applied to other slaughtered beasts) used as a cloak or wrap, (2) a short form of wardrobe (especially when built into a wall rather than being stand-alone) and (3) the largest and strongest leaves on a tobacco plant.

Singer Dr Taylor Swift in academic gown after being conferred an honorary doctorate in fine arts from New York University, May 2022.

In formal and vocational use, gown and robe and well understood and there tends not to be overlap except among those unacquainted with such things.  That’s understandable because to the casual observer the things can look much the same and the differences in nomenclature are more to do with tradition than style or cut.  Judges for example ware judicial robes and in the US these are usually black whereas elsewhere in the English-speaking world they can be of quite vivid hues, red and scarlet the most admired.  The US influence however seem pervasive and the trend is now almost universally black, certainly among newly established courts; in the same courts, barristers robes look much the same the term “judicial robe” is exclusive to the bench, the advocates garments variously called “barristers’ robes” “legal robes” or lawyers’ robes”.  Academics however wear gowns and again, the Americans tend to favor black while in the English tradition, all the colors of the rainbow have been seen.  These differ from surgical (also known as hospital or medical gowns) which, compared with just about every other gown, really aren’t gowns at all.  Surgical gowns are made usually in a blue, beige or green pastel color (better to show the blood) and are a kind of inverted dress which is fastened at the back (by an assistant so the wearer’s fingers don’t pick up germs).  In the UK parliament, there were many robes for offices of state and the one worn by the speaker made its way to colonial and dominion parliaments.  They're now rarely worn except on ceremonial occasions and the best known is probably that of the UK’s chancellors of the exchequer although the last one, dating from the late nineteenth century, is said to have “gone missing” while Gordon Brown (b 1951; UK prime-minister 2007-2010) was chancellor.

New South Wales (Australia) Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges in judicial robes during the pandemic.

It’s in women’s fashion where the distinction between a gown and a dress can become muddied and probably most illustrative is the matter of the “wedding dress” and the “wedding gown”.  Even among couturiers, there’s actually no agreed definition of where one ends and the other begins and it’s very much in the eye of the beholder although the eye of the retailer is doubtless quite an influence, the theory being that the grander the design and the more the fabric, the more plausible is the label “wedding gown” and the higher the price-tag.  These informal (but serviceable) rules of thumb work also for dresses & gowns in general, the distinction more one of semantics and personal preference although in saying that, it’s only at the margins where there can be confusion; a minimalist LBD (little black dress) would never be confused with a gown and the grandest creations recalling those worn at the famous balls held in conjunction with the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) would never be called dresses.

Watercolor of one of the many balls held during the Congress of Vienna.

Despite that, in the narrow technical sense, to a seamstress, all gowns are dresses, but not all dresses are gowns and as late as the early eighteenth century the word "dress" was still not the exclusive province of women’s clothing ensembles.  In recent centuries, the dress has been defined by its modifiers (sun-dress, summer-dress, evening-dress, travelling dress, riding-dress etc) and the modern convention seems to be that if an invitation specifies semi-formal then an evening dress is expected and that might be something thought a gown but not necessarily.  However, when an invitation states that the occasion is formal, women are expected to wear an evening gown.  Classically, that’s understood to be something at once precise yet frivolous, with a tight fitting bodice and a skirt which reaches to the floor and this was once the accepted standard for any red-carpet event of note but the recent trend towards outrageous displays of skin has in the entertainment industry subverted the tradition although the audience is expected still to adhere.

Lindsay Lohan in a diaphanous gown, Met Gala, New York, 2007.

Orchidaceous

Orchidaceous (pronounced awr-ki-dey-shuhs)

(1) In botany, of, relating to, or belonging to the Orchidaceae, a family of flowering plants including (but not limited to) the orchids.

(2) Figuratively, characterized by ostentatiousness; showy; extravagant; excessive in some way.

1830–1840: From the New Latin Orchidace & Orchidaceae, the construct being orchidace + -ous.  It was English botanist John Lindley (1799–1865) who in School Botanty (1845) coined the word orchid from the New Latin Orchideæ & Orchidaceae (Linnaeus), the plant's family name, from the Latin orchis (a kind of orchid), from the Ancient Greek orkhis (genitive orkheos) (orchid (literally “testicle”)) from the primitive Indo-European orghi-, the standard root for “testicle” (and related to the Avestan erezi (testicles), the Armenian orjik, the Middle Irish uirgge, the Irish uirge (testicle) and the Lithuanian erzilas (stallion).  The plant so called because of the shape of its root was said so to resemble testicles (the Greek orkhis also was the name of a kind of olive, named also for its shape).  So striking did the writers of Antiquity fine the double roots of the plant that references appear in some texts.  The Roman historian Pliny the Elder (24-79) was (as was common at the time) also something of a naturalist and he was moved to observe: “Mirabilis est orchis herba sive serapis gemina radice testiculis simili.” (The orchis plant, also known as serapis, is remarkable with its twin roots resembling testicles.)  The noun plural is orchids, the field is orchidology and the breeders, collectors and other obsessives are called orchidologists.  Orchidaceous & orchidean are adjectives and orchidacity is a noun; the noun plural is orchidacities.

Earlier in English (in the Latinesque form) was the mid-sixteenth century orchis while in fourteenth century Middle English it was ballockwort (literally “testicle plant” and related to the more recent ballocks).  The extraneous -d- in the modern spelling was added in an attempt to extract the Latin stem and it is here to stay, the history of that the construct as orch(is) (the plant) + -id(ae).  The irregular suffix –idae is the plural of a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek -ίδης (-ídēs), a patronymic suffix which in medieval writing was sometimes interpreted as representing instead the plural of a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek adjectival suffix -ειδής (-eidḗs) from εἶδος (eîdos) (appearance, resemblance).  It was adopted in 1811 at the suggestion of British entomologist William Kirby (1759-1850), to simplify and make uniform the system of French zoologist Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833) which divided insect orders into sections; in taxonomy, it’s used to form names of subclasses of plants and families of animals.  The –ous suffix was from the Middle English -ous, from the Old French –ous & -eux, from the Latin -ōsus (full, full of); a doublet of -ose in an unstressed position.  It was used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance.  In chemistry, it has a specific technical application, used in the nomenclature to name chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a lower oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix –ic (as an example, sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H₂SO₃).

The sensual orchid.

In the spirit of the figurative use (and usually of women’s fashion), although they’re non-standard, the adjective orchidaceousness and the adverb orchidaceously have been formed and in that vein, the only thing which would make orchidaceous difficult to use as a noun would be forming the plural (orchidaceoux would appall the purists).  Usually though, those commenting on what appears on the catwalks & red carpets seem content with the comparative (more orchidaceous) and the superlative (most orchidaceous).  Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) noted the old spelling (orchis) was “applied chiefly to the English wild flowers and is accordingly the poetic and country word”.  The very idea of “the country word” is now dated and was a particular sort of regionalism: one used by those tied by linguistic tradition to rural England rather than certain locations, and if orchis endures as a literary or poetic device, it’s rare.  Of flowers, although orchidaceous can mean “of, relating to, or belonging to the Orchidaceae”, such is the beauty of orchids, those who write of the things seem drawn to use sexual imagery and rarely can resist “seductive” and other lovely plants are sometimes also described as orchidaceous.

The original etymology survives in medicine as orchidectomy although the construct of that was the Latin orchis (wrongly interpreting orchid- as the stem) +‎ -ectomy (the surgical removal of); the correct term is actually orchiectomy (the surgical removal of one or both testes).  The synonym is testectomy which is interesting because the use of that within the profession (usually by veterinarians) does not of necessity imply something surgical.  The -ectomy suffix was from the Ancient Greek -εκτομία (-ektomía) (a cutting out of), from ἐκτέμνω (ektémnō) (to cut out), the construct being ἐκ (ek) (out) + τέμνω (témnō) (to cut).  In surgery, it was appended to the name of whatever is being removed (eg an appendectomy being the surgical removal of the appendix) although it's borrowed (often for jocular purposes) by plumbers, carpenters and others in professions where there often a need to "cut things off", a "roofectomy" being the process by which a coach-builder converts a coupé (or other closed vehicle) into some sort of convertible.

Lindsay Lohan in a Gucci Porcelain Garden print gown (the list price a reputed Stg£4,040) at the launch of the One Family NGO (non-governmental organization), Savoy Hotel, London, June 2017 (left) and Taylor Swift in Etro navy and yellow silk floral ball gown at the Golden Globes award ceremony, The Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles, January 2020 (right).

Neither cutting-edge nor retro in the conventional sense of the word, Lindsay Lohan’s gown was mostly well-received and for students of intricacy it was worth studying although probably few would have called it orchidaceous because it conveyed such a sense of the conservative; only a burqa could have been more modest.  That’s why the blue was such a good choice; in scarlet there would have been mixed messages.  Some thought it Rococo and perhaps thematically it could have been done with just a ruffled collar, the pussy bow a detail too many, but the patterning was clever and accentuated the lines.  While it’s not certain the vivid floral patterns on Taylor Swift’s gown were actually intended to be suggestive of orchids, the effect was orchidaceous.  It was an exercise in monumentalism which swished around as wafted about, recalling the flowers of an orchid in a breeze.

Orchidacity in Solid colors: Gigi Hadid and the Met Gala, New York, May 2022 (left), Sophie Monk at the TV Week Logie Awards-Gold Coast, Australia, June 2019 (centre) and Carolina Gaitan at the Academy Awards ceremony, Los Angeles, March 2022 (right).

Although dedicated (ie obsessional) orchidologists adhere to the language from botanical taxonomy (Epidendrum, Ludisia, Masdevallia, Erythraeum, Promenaea, Spathoglottis, Psychopsis, Angraecum, Encyclia cochleata et al) when classifying their collections, most people describe them in terms of the dominant color or, when a combination is particular striking (as many of the blues & purples especially are) that mix is referenced (orange/yellow, purple/white et al) but that doesn’t mean that for some object to be thought orchidaceous it must be multi-hued.  That’s because the allure of an orchid lies not in the colors but in the sensuality of the shape; they are the sexiest of flowers, soft, feminine things which seem to draw one in to be enveloped.

Giulia Salemie (b 1993, left) & Dayane Mello (b 1989, right), Venice Film Festival, Italy, September 2016.

The trend in recent years for the “naked dress” to become the red carpet motif of the era might have been thought to limit the possibility of the creations being thought orchidaceous because the focus is so much on flesh rather than fabric, of which there’s often precious little.  However, on a fortuitously warm and not too windy September day during the Venice Film Festival, two Italian models proved the naked look could be combined with voluminous folds; it was all in the cut.  For the reasons discussed, the dresses could not be called anything but orchidaceous although the internet had already suggested VVD (visible vag(ina) dress)) which in general was wrong (although the initialism was OK) because correctly the hint was of a visible vulva and on that day in Venice, the models actually wore (that may not be the right word) color-coordinated (ie the same fabric as the dresses) adhesive micro-knickers, held in place with a skin-friendly surgical glue.  In a nice touch, their appearance came during the festival’s premiere of The Young Pope (the first time a television production had been included in the program).

Exquisite

Exquisite (pronounced ek-skwi-zit or ik-skwiz-it)

(1) Of special beauty or charm, or rare and appealing excellence and often associated with objects or great delicacy; of rare excellence of production or execution, as works of art or workmanship; beautiful, delicate, discriminating, perfect.

(2) Extraordinarily fine or admirable; consummate.

(3) Intense; acute, or keen, as pleasure or pain; keenly or delicately sensitive or responsive; exceeding; extreme; in a bad or a good sense (eg as exquisite pleasure or exquisite pain).

(4) Recherché; far-fetched; abstruse (a now rare early meaning which to some extent survives in surrealist’s exercise “exquisite corpse”).

(5) Of particular refinement or elegance, as taste, manners, etc or persons.

(6) A man excessively concerned about clothes, grooming etc; a dandy or coxcomb.

(7) Ingeniously devised or thought out (obsolete).

(8) Carefully adjusted; precise; accurate; exact (now less common except as an adverb.

(9) Of delicate perception or close and accurate discrimination; not easy to satisfy; exact; fastidious (related to the sense of “exquisite judgment, taste, or discernment”.

1400–1450: From the Late Middle English exquisite (carefully selected), from the Latin exquīsītus (excellent; meticulous, chosen with care (and literally “carefully sought out”)), perfect passive participle of exquīrō (to seek out), originally the past participle of exquīrere (to ask about, examine) the construct being ex- + -quīrere, a combining form of quaerere (to seek). The construct of exquīrō was ex- +‎ quaerō (seek).  The ex- prefix was applied to words in Middle English borrowed from the Middle French and was derived from the Latin ex- (out of, from) and was from the primitive Indo-European eǵ- & eǵs-.  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex-, out of, from) from the Transalpine Gaulish ex- (out), the Old Irish ess- (out), the Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ) (out), the Russian из (iz) (from, out of).  Exquisite is a noun & adjective, exquisiteness is a noun and exquisitely an adverb; the noun plural is exquisites.

The etymology of the Latin quaerō (seek) is mysterious.  It may be from the Proto-Italic kwaizeō, from the primitive Indo-European kweh (to acquire) so cognates may include the Ancient Greek πέπαμαι (pépamai) (to get, acquire), the Old Prussian quoi (I/you want) & quāits (desire), the Lithuanian kviẽsti (to invite) and possibly the Albanian kam (I have).  Some have suggested the source being the primitive Indo-European kwoys & kweys (to see) but there has been little support for this.  The authoritative Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (Lexicon of the Indo-European Verbs (LIV)), the standard etymological dictionary of the Proto-Indo-European languages, suggests it’s a derivation of hzeys (to seek, ask), via the form koaiseo.  "Exquisite corpse" is a calque of the French cadavre exquis (literally “exquisite cadaver”).  Dating from 1925, it was coined by French surrealists to describe a method of loosely structured constructivism on the model of the parlour game consequences; fragments of text (or images) are created by different people according to pre-set rules, then joined together to create a complete text.  The name comes from the first instance in 1925: Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau (The exquisite corpse will drink new wine).  Exquisite corpse is noted as a precursor to both post-modernism and deconstructionist techniques.

Although not infrequently it appears in the same sentence as the word “unique”, exquisite can be more nuanced, the comparative “more exquisite, the superlative most exquisite” and there has certainly been a change in the pattern of use.  In English, it originally was applied to any thing (good or bad, art or torture, diseases or good health), brought to a highly wrought condition, tending among the more puritanical to disapprobation.  The common modern meaning (of consummate and delightful excellence) dates from the late 1570s while the noun (a dandy, a foppish man) seems first to have been used in 1819.  One interesting variant which didn’t survive was exquisitous (not natural, but procured by art), appearing in dictionaries in the early eighteenth centuries but not since.  The pronunciation of exquisite has undergone a rapid change from ek-skwi-zit to ik-skwiz-it, the stress shifting to the second syllable.  The newer pronunciation attracted the inevitable criticism but is now the most common form on both sides of the Atlantic and use seems not differentiated by class. 

An exquisite and a wimp: Baldur Benedikt von Schirach

Exquisite is used almost exclusively as an adjective, applied typically to objects or performances but it’s also a noun, albeit one always rare.  As a noun it was used to describe men who inhabited that grey area of being well dressed, well coiffured, well mannered and somewhat effeminate; it was a way of hinting at something without descending to the explicit.  PG Wodehouse (1881-1975) applied it thus in Sam the Sudden (1925) and historians Ann (1938-2021) & John Tusa (b 1936) in The Nuremberg Trial (1983) found no better word to apply to former Hitler Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach, noting his all-white bedroom and propensity to pen poor poetry.  The companion word to describe a similar chap without of necessity the same hint of effeminacy is “aesthete”.  In The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir (1992), Brigadier General Telford Taylor (1908–1998; lead US counsel at the Nuremberg Trial) wrote of von Schirath that: “at thirty-nine, was the youngest and, except perhaps for Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946; Nazi foreign minister 1938-1945) and Hans Fritzsche (1900–1953; Nazi propagandist), the weakest of the defendants.  If wimps had then been spoken of, Schirach would have been so styled.”  

Nazis at the Berghof: Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945), Martin Bormann (1900–1945), Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945), and Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974; head of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) 1931-1940 & Gauleiter (district party leader) and Reichsstatthalter (Governor) of Vienna (1940-1945)), Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany, 1936.  Of much, all were guilty as sin but von Schirach would survive to die in his bed at 67.  

Convicted by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (IMT, 1945-1946) for crimes against humanity, von Schirach received a twenty year sentence, escaping conviction for his role as Nazi Party youth leader and head of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth), (though he was a good deal more guilty than Socrates in corrupting the minds (and perhaps more) of youth), the sentence imposed for his part in deporting Viennese Jews to the death camps while Gauleiter (district party leader) and Reichsstatthalter (Governor) of Vienna.  Had subsequently discovered evidence against him been available at the trial, doubtlessly he’d have been hanged.

Exquisite: A style guide

Lindsay Lohan in a Gucci Porcelain Garden Print Silk Gown with an all-over Dutch toile in blue and white, high ruffled collar and bib, flared sleeves, pussy bow and a blue and red patent leather belt around a high waist, Savoy Hotel, London, June 2017.  The gown was said to have a recommended retail price (RRP) of Stg£4,040 (US$7300).  The occasion was the launch of the charitable organization One Family, dedicated to combating child trafficking.

Within the one critique, the word exquisite can appear, used as a neutral descriptor (an expression of extent), a paean to beauty and even an ironic dismissal.  A gown for example can be “exquisitely detailed” but that doesn’t of necessity imply elegance although that would be the case of something said to be an “exquisite design”.  That said, most were drawn to the gown in some way, the references to Jane Austin many (although historians of fashion might note Gucci’s creation as something evocative more of recent films made of Jane Austin novels that anything representative of what was worn in her era) and the fabric’s patterning & restraint in the use of color produced a dreamily romantic look.

Compliment & Complement

Compliment (pronounced kom-pluh-muhnt (noun) or kom-pluh-ment (verb))

(1) An expression of praise, commendation, or admiration.

(2) A formal act or expression of civility, respect, or regard.

(3) A courteous greeting; good wishes; regards.

(4) To pay a compliment to.

(5) To show kindness or regard for by a gift or other favour.

1570–1580: From the French compliment from the Italian complimento, a borrowing from the Spanish cumplimiento from cumplir (to complete, do what is proper or fitting, be polite).  The construct was compli- (from complir) + -miento (from the Old Spanish, from the Late Latin -mentum, from the Classical Latin -menta. A doublet of –mento (and used as the suffix –ment in Modern English), it formed nouns from verbs with the sense of the action or process.  Compliment is a doublet of complement and the synonyms include admiration, applause, commendation, homage, ovation, blessing, courtesy, adulation, endorsement, tribute, congratulate, applaud, laud, commend, cajole, endorse, extol, acclaim, bouquet and confirmation.  Compliment is a noun, complimenter is a noun, complimenting & complimented are verbs and complimentary, complimentable & complimentative are adjectives; the noun plural is compliments.  Complimentarity is a misspelling of complementarity.

Human nature being what it is, there are sincere compliments and “backhanded compliments”, the latter best understood in the portmanteau word "complisult", the construct of the blend being compl(iment) +‎ insult.  In the language of nineteenth century diplomacy it was known as the “Chinese compliment” (a pretense of deference; a veiled or subtle insult), based on the practice at the time for the Chinese to do thing like allocate foreign delegations lower chairs at the table when signing treaties.  China was then a weak power and compelled to make some unsatisfactory agreements but what also annoyed them was the Western diplomats seems not to mind, instead going away happy with their lucrative treaties in hand.  This was interpreted as the “foreign devils” being too stupid to comprehend the Middle Kingdom’s subtleties.  Other forms, all in some way variations on “damning with faint praise” include the “dubious compliment”, the “left-handed compliment”, the “poisonous compliment” and the “pseudo-compliment”.  For those prepared to take the risk, there’s the art (a calling for some) of “compliment fishing” (the act of self-deprecating for the purpose of baiting other people into giving praise or compliments).

Complement (pronounced kom-pluh-muhnt (noun) or kom-pluh-ment (verb))

(1) Something which completes, something which combines with something else to make up a complete whole (ie makes perfect); loosely, something perceived to be a harmonious or desirable partner or addition.

(2) The quantity or amount that completes anything.

(3) Either of two parts or things needed to complete the whole; counterpart.

(4) To complete something by some addition.

(5) The totality, the full amount or number which completes something.

(6) In nautical use, the whole working force of a vessel.

(7) In astronomy & geometry, an angle which, together with a given angle, makes a right angle.

(8) In formal grammar & linguistics, a word or group of words which completes a grammatical construction in the predicate and that describes or is identified with the subject or object.

(9) In music, an interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.

(10) In optics, the color which, when mixed with the given color, gives black (for mixing pigments) or white (for mixing light).

(11) In set theory, given two sets, the set containing one set's elements that are not members of the other set (whether a relative complement or an absolute complement)

(12) In immunology, one of several blood proteins that work with antibodies during an immune response.

(13) In formal logic, an expression related to some other expression such that it is true under the same conditions that make other false, and vice versa.

(14) In electronics, a voltage level with the opposite logical sense to the given one.

(15) In computing, a bit with the opposite value to the given one; the logical complement of a number.

(16) In computing & mathematics, the diminished radix complement of a number; the nines' complement of a decimal number; the ones' complement of a binary number; the numeric complement of a number.

(17) In genetics, a nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa (a DNA molecule is formed from two strands, each of which is the complement of the other).

(18) In biochemistry, a synonym of alexin (a protective substance that exists in the serum or other bodily fluid and is capable of killing microorganisms).

(19) In economics, a clipping of complementary good (a good, the appeal of which increases with the popularity of its complement).

(20) Someone or something which completes; the consummation (archaic).

(21) The act of completing something, or the fact of being complete; completion, completeness, fulfilment (obsolete).

(22) Something which completes one's equipment, dress etc; an accessory (obsolete).

(23) An alternative spelling of compliment (obsolete although misspellings persist).

1350–1400: From the fourteenth century French complément, from the Old French compliement (accomplishment, fulfillment), from the Latin complēmentum (something that completes; that which fills up or completes) from compleō (I fill up, I complete) from complēre (fill up), the construct being com- (thought most likely used as an intensive prefix) + plere (to fill) from the primitive Indo-European root pele- (to fill).  The construct of the Latin complēmentum was complē(re) + -mentum (from the Latin suffix -menta (in collective nouns like armenta (herd, flock)); the Latin -menta was from the primitive Indo-European -mnthe.  Complement is a doublet of compliment.  From the early seventeenth century, the meaning "full quality or number," was assumed while the musical sense of "simple interval that completes an octave from another simple interval" dates from 1873.  During the sixteenth century, the word was used also in the senses taken up between circa 1650-circa1725 by compliment.  The verb in the sense of "make complete" was in use by the 1640s and was derived from the noun.  The evolution of use is illustrated by the long-obsolete sense of "exchange courtesies" (in use in the 1610s) which came from the noun complement, a hint of the sixteenth century sense "that which is added, not as necessary, but as ornamental".  Complement & complementary are nouns & verbs, complementarity is a noun, complementing & complemented are verbs and complemental is an adjective; the noun plural is complements.

Lindsay Lohan in an Alice Temperley (b 1975) gown, complemented with silver and diamond cluster jewelry, front at back, Montecito, California August 2011.

The gown attracted many compliments from the fashionistas, the details of the cutaway back especially admired, but many dwelt on the matter of whether a guest should wear white to a wedding, the occasion Kim Kardashian’s (b 1980) (second) marriage to Kris Humphries (b 1985).  However, there was a strict “black & white” dress code for the event and there was a lot of white on display and Ms Kardashian is anyway hard to upstage.  Ms Lohan’s gown had been seen a few months earlier, the also much complimented Pippa Middleton (b 1983) wearing one in emerald when attending the party after her sister married a prince.

Complement and compliment, which (noun & verb) are pronounced alike and originally shared some meanings, evolved to become separate words with entirely different meanings.  As a noun, complement means “something that augments, completes or makes perfect”.  As a verb, complement means “to add to or complete”.  The noun compliment means “an expression of praise, commendation, or admiration”.  The verb compliment means “to pay a compliment to”.  In the jargon of formal grammar, complement means “that which completes or helps to complete the verb, making with it the predicate (this the widest sense of the word, not the direct object of a transitive verb or adverbs.  In one of the paradoxes he delighted in recounting, Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) noted this was “the most reasonable application of the term” while being also both the “least useful and the least used”.  Warming to the topic he pointed out that not infrequently the “direct object is excluded but all other modifications or appendages of the verb are called complements; a sense found convenient in sentence analysis but too wide to be precise and too narrow to be logical.”  Further to complicate complement, another restriction is the definitional net permits the catch only of those words or phrases so essential to the verb “that they form one notion with it and its meaning would be incomplete” were they to be omitted.  Examples are legion and so blatant it seems unnecessary to define certain forms as a complement and Henry Fowler took the view that some verbs are by their very nature incomplete and were the definition of what is a complement thus limited, it would be “a serviceable rule, especially if it were established as the only one.”  It’s not however the only one and the flavour which most pleases the pedants is the narrowest and most technical in which complement is applied only to the noun or adjective predicated by means of a conjunctive verb “(be, become etc) or of a factitive verb (make, call, think etc) of the subject (He is a fool; He grew wiser; He was made king) or of the object (Call no man happy); in such example as the last, the complement is called an objective or an oblique complement.  A sense frequent in Latin grammars.”

So, in formal grammar, a “complement” is a word, phrase or clause which is necessary to complete the meaning of a given expression.  What complements do is lend additional information about the subject or object in a sentence, often completing the thought or idea that the verb begins.  Complements are important (and often essential) essential because they complete the meaning of the predicate in a sentence, ensuring a sentence expresses a complete thought and in structural linguistics, they’re categorized thus:

(1) Subject Complements: These follow a linking verb (such as “be’ or “seem”) and provide information about the subject. They can be: (1a) predicate nominatives which are nouns or pronouns that rename or identify the subject (in “she is an actor”, “actor” is the predicate nominative that complements the subject “she”) or (1b) predicate adjectives which are adjectives that describe the subject (in “the sky is blue”, “blue” is the predicate adjective that complements the subject “the sky”).

(2) Object Complements: These follow and modify or refer to the direct object. They can be: (2a) noun phrases such as “We elected him president” (“president” the noun phrase that complements the direct object “him”) or adjective phrases such as “She dyed her hair blonde” (“blonde the adjective phrase that complements the direct object “he hair”).

(3) Adjective Complements: These provide additional information about an adjective, often introduced by prepositions such as “of”, “to”, “for”, or “that” such as in the phrase “I am happy that you came” (“that you came” is an adjective complement adding information about “happy”).

(4) Verb Complements: These can be objects or other structures that complete the meaning of a verb.  In "she wishes to leave", “to leave” is a verb complement providing more information about what "she wishes”.

Tie

Tie (pronounced tahy)

(1) A knot; a fastening.

(2) A knot of hair (as at the back of a wig).  (a tiewig is (1) a wig having a tie or ties, or one having some of the curls tied up or (2) a wig that is tied upon the head; a court-wig tied with ribbon at the back).

(3) A long narrow piece of material worn, most often by men, under the collar of a shirt, tied in a knot close to the throat with the ends hanging down the front.  Also called necktie (a bow tie is never truncated to tie).

(4) A lace-up she or boot, historically as Oxford ties, Derby ties etc (now a rare use).

(5) As “twist tie”, a piece of wire embedded in paper or a strip of plastic, wound around something (typically a bag, cable etc) and tightened to secure it.

(6) A connection between people (or groups of people) or between people and institutions, ideologies etc, especially a strong connection (familiar in the phrases “ties of friends”, “ties of allegiance”, “ties that bind” etc).

(7) In construction, any of various structural members (beams, rods, stringers etc) used to keep two objects (rafters; haunches of an arch etc), from spreading or separating.

(8) In rail track construction, any of a number of closely spaced transverse beams of concrete, metal or (historically and still mostly) wood, for holding the rails forming a track at the proper distance from each other and for transmitting train loads to the ballast and roadbed (in other places known as a “sleeper”).

(9) In sport and related competitions, the situation in which two or more participants in a competition are placed equally (known variously as a “draw” or stalemate”.  The exception is long-form cricket (test & first class) where a tie (both sides having the same total of runs when the last ball has been delivered) is distinct form a draw (neither side able to force a win).

(10) In sport and related competitions, a meeting between two players or teams in a competition (mostly UK & Commonwealth use).

(11) In music, a curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch denoting that they should be played as a single note with the combined length of both notes (distinct from a slur).

(12) In typography & phonetic transcription, a curved line connecting two letters (⁀), used in the IPA to denote a co-articulation, as for example /d͡ʒ/.

(13) In statistics, one or more equal values or sets of equal values in the data set.

(14) In surveying, a bearing and distance between a lot corner or point and a benchmark or iron off site; a measurement made to determine the position of a survey station with respect to a reference mark or other isolated point.

(15) In graph theory, a connection between two vertices.

(16) To bind, fasten, or attach with a cord, string, or the like, drawn together and knotted.

(17) To draw together the parts of with a knotted string or the like.

(18) To fasten, join, or connect in any way.

(19) To confine, restrict, or limit.

(20) To bind or oblige, as to do something.

Pre 900: From the Middle English teye, tiegh & tegh (cord, rope; chain) from the Old English tēag, tēah, tēagh and tēgh (cord; chain), from the Proto-West Germanic taugu, from the Proto-Germanic taugō, from the Old Norse taug (rope) & tygill, from the primitive Indo-European dewk- and ultimately from the from the prehistoric deuk (to pull, to lead).  It was cognate with the Danish tov.  The Middle English tien and the Old English tīgan (to tie) were both derivative of the noun and related to the Old Norse teygja (to draw, stretch out) and the Old English tēon (to pull).  Tie is a noun & verb, tying is a noun & verb, tied is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is ties.

The figurative sense dates from the 1550s and the adoption in the US to describe railway sleepers is from 1857.  The meaning "equality between competitors" was first noticed in the 1670s although the meaning “to finish equal to a competitor” seems not to have been formalized until the late 1880s.  The tie-breaker (a mechanism used to force a tied match to a win) was first mentioned in 1938 and is most familiar from tennis when it was first widely used in the early 1960s.  In mist forms of sport, the “tie” is interchangeable with “draw “ except in the four-innings cricket in which, apparently uniquely, four results are possible, win, lose, draw and the (rare) tie.  The sense of a “cravat’; necktie” (usually a simple one knotted in front) dates from 1761.  The idea of the bow tie (a necktie tied in the form of a bow or a knot with two loops) was familiar by 1887 although the earlier use in the sense “a ribbon or other fabric tied in a bow-knot) was in use in 1874.

In idiomatic use, to “tie the knot” means “to form a union” (usually marriage) dates from 1707.  To “Tie one on” (get drunk) was first recorded in 1944)" is recorded from 1944.  The phrase “old school tie” has been in use since 1938 and refers literally to the neckties worn by former students of a certain English public (private) schools and is used as an allusion to the way the class system is maintained.  The “tie-in” (a specific connection) was first documented in 1934 and was said to be from a verbal phrase noted since 1793.  The verb “hog-tie” was literally the most efficient way of securing a body (by binding the hands and feet by crossing and tying them) and was first documented (it’s unclear how long the technique had been in use) in 1887.  The verb tie-dye is associated with hippies and their spiritual descendants but the technique was first patented in 1902.  In telecommunications, a "tie-line" is a dedicated line between two extensions.  The origin was in the physical wire which once ran point-to-point ("tying" the two together), the classic example the cables run by the military in the trenches of World War I (1914-1918).  The term is still used to refer to dedicated private services but most are now part of distributed networks and implemented with a combination of physical switching and software.

The RSVP - What to wear

White Tie Dress Code.

White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is now the most formal evening dress code in western culture.  For men, it consists of a black tailcoat worn over a white starched shirt, Marcella waistcoat and a white bow tie worn around a detachable collar.  High-waisted black trousers and patent leather pumps complete the ensemble; decorations need not be worn unless specified, top hats and canes the only permitted accessories.   White scarves were once frequently seen but seem now frowned upon.  For women, it’s a full-length gown.  Optional is jewelry, a tiara, a small bag and evening gloves though with accessories, fashion critics urge restraint.

Although now the most elaborate western dress code, white tie is derived from the eighteenth century movement towards a less elaborate aesthetic of style and by the 1840s was de rigueur for the small fragment of the population who moved “in society circles”.  The two great events of the twentieth century, the world wars, rent social fissures which rendered white tie extinct for all but a handful of ceremonial and state occasions such as balls at some of the old universities and royal households.  The white tie belongs mostly to the lost, pre-1914 world although still required for the annual Nobel Prize ceremony.

Black Tie Dress Code.

Transcending class distinctions, black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions.  It emerged and evolved during the late nineteenth century, was essentially codified by the 1920s and, for men, little changed since.  For men, the elements are a white dress shirt with black bow tie, an evening waistcoat or cummerbund, a dinner jacket in black or midnight blue and polished black shoes.  This setup is known in the US as a tuxedo and in France as cravate noire.  Black tie permits variations, lighter colored jackets, dating from hot climates of the Raj, are now not unusual but variations need still to be on the theme.

By contrast with the essentially static men’s code, women's dress for black tie has been subject to trends, both in fashion and social mores.  Traditionally it was evening shoes and ankle or lower-calf length (depending on the hour) sleeveless evening gown, often set-off by a wrap or stole and, almost inevitability, gloves.  In the twenty-first century, women are essentially free to construct whatever seems to suit the occasion, a gown, a cocktail dress, a LBD (little black dress), even trousers and boots; black tie for women is now post-modern and thus more concept than code.

Black tie invitation: Lindsay Lohan interprets.