paraphernal









paraphernal


noun

  1. (sometimes used with a singular verb) equipment, apparatus, or furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity: a skier’s paraphernalia.
  2. (used with a plural verb) personal belongings.
  3. (used with a singular verb) Law. the personal articles, apart from dower, reserved by law to a married woman.

pl n (sometimes functioning as singular)

  1. miscellaneous articles or equipment
  2. law (formerly) articles of personal property given to a married woman by her husband before or during marriage and regarded in law as her possessions over which she has some measure of control

n.1650s, “a woman’s property besides her dowry,” from Medieval Latin paraphernalia (short for paraphernalia bona “paraphernal goods”), neuter plural of paraphernalis (adj.), from Late Latin parapherna “a woman’s property besides her dowry,” from Greek parapherna, neuter plural, from para- “beside” (see para- (1)) + pherne “dowry,” related to pherein “to carry” (see infer). Meaning “equipment, apparatus” is first attested 1791, from notion of odds and ends.

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