gown
blue gown
1. A female prostitute. The phrase derives from the blue gowns that convicted prostitutes once had to wear in houses of correction. Those poor blue gowns will have nowhere to turn when they're released, and most likely will end up here again.
2. A licensed beggar in Scotland (who traditionally wore a blue gown). If you don't take this job, you're going to end up a blue gown, begging on the streets!
See also: blue, gown
cap and gown
The mortarboard and robe traditionally worn during academic ceremonies, especially graduation. All graduates need to be here in cap and gown at 9 AM tomorrow.
See also: and, cap, gown
town and gown
The two coexisting communities of a university town, i.e., the university (primarily the students) and the residents of the town where it is located, used especially in reference to tensions between the two. "Gown" is a reference to the traditional academic gown once worn by university students, now typically reserved for graduation ceremonies. Hyphenated if used as a modifier before a noun. The city council decided to establish a collaborative committee dedicated to helping resolve such disputes between town and gown. Town-and-gown relations have continued to sour as residents' complaints about noise and congestion within the town have increased.
See also: and, gown, town
town-gown
Relating to the two coexisting communities of a university town, i.e., the university (primarily the students) and the residents of the town where it is located, used especially in reference to tensions between the two. "Gown" is a reference to the traditional academic gown once worn by university students, now typically reserved for graduation ceremonies. The city council decided to establish a collaborative committee dedicated to helping resolve such town-gown disputes. Town-gown relations have continued to sour as residents' complaints about noise and congestion within the town have increased.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
cap and gown
the academic cap or mortarboard and the robe worn in formal academic ceremonies. We all had to rent cap and gown for graduation. I appeared wearing my cap and gown, but I had shorts on underneath because it gets so hot at that time of year.
See also: and, cap, gown
town-and-gown
the relations between a town and the university located within the town; the relations between university students and the nonstudents who live in a university town. (Usually in reference to a disagreement. Fixed order.) There is another town-and-gown dispute in Adamsville over the amount the university costs the city for police services. There was more town-and-gown strife reported at Larry's Bar and Grill last Saturday night.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
cap and gown
Ceremonial dress worn at graduation exercises; by extension, the academic community (also see town and gown. For example, Mary was very proud) when she received her cap and gown for commencement. [Mid-1800s]
See also: and, cap, gown
town and gown
The inhabitants of a college or university town and the students and personnel of the college, as in There used to be friction between town and gown but the new parking lots have eased it . The gown in this expression alludes to the academic robes traditional in British universities. [Early 1800s]
See also: and, gown, town
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
town and gown
non-members and members of a university in a particular place.The gown is the academic dress worn by university members, now required only on ceremonial or formal occasions. The distinction between town and gown was made in these specific terms in early 19th-century Oxford and Cambridge, but the traditional hostility between the native inhabitants of the two cities and the incoming students has been a long-standing phenomenon, as is evidenced by the St Scholastica's Day riot in Oxford in 1354 .
See also: and, gown, town
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
town-gown
Relations between a college and the municipality in which it is located. Students at British universities and boarding schools were fond of playing pranks on the inhabitants of the cities and towns where the schools were. However, not all the “pranks” were pranks: drunken carousing, theft, arson, and other crimes were done under the guise of boyish high spirits. These uneasy relations between town and “gown” (students wore academic robes, as in “cap and gown”) happened in this country too, and there are still times when a mayor and a college dean meet to try and smooth ruffled feathers.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
- blue gown
- out of a clear (blue) sky
- out of the blue
- blue screen of death
- BSOD
- blue moon
- once in a blue moon
- curse a blue streak
- have a blue fit
- cuss