tuxedo

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʌkˈsidoʊ/; /tʌkˈsiːdəʊ/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is short for Tuxedo coat,^[2][3] named after Tuxedo Park, New York, where the jacket was first worn at a country club,^{[2][4][5][6][3]} supposedly in 1886.^[5][4] The place name probably comes from a tribal name that was originally a place name, perhaps Munsee Delaware p'tuck-sepo “crooked river”, according to Bright as cited by Etymonline.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short, tailless jacket for formal or semiformal evening wear; a dinner jacket.^[7][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The name passed from the jacket to the whole semiformal outfit worn with it.^[2][6][3][1]

Timeline

• 1886 – said to be first worn at the Tuxedo Park country club.^[4][5]
• 1889 – first recorded;^[7][6][4][5] RHWU gives 1890–95.^[3]
• 1934 – tuxedoed.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A man's dress jacket, usually black with satin or grosgrain lapels, worn on formal or semiformal occasions.
2. The complete outfit including this jacket, usually with a bow tie and often a cummerbund.

Word family

• tuxedoed
• tux

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press