courtwear

English

Etymology

From court +‎ -wear.

Noun

courtwear (uncountable)

1. Clothing to be worn in a sports court.
   • 1969 May 26, Sports Illustrated, volume 30, number 21, page 92:

     Durable lightness—that’s new Jantzen courtwear.

   • 1972 July 29, Sophy Burnham, “Tennis: A whole new ball game”, in Saturday Review, volume LV, number 31, page 46, column 1:

     (Yet, ironically, many of the newer, less well-heeled players seem to be even more dedicated to white attire than do veteran players, and tennis’s arrivés are often offended by other hues of courtwear.)

   • 1977 March 7, Marilyn Thelen, “Sports is not only how you play the game but what you wear”, in The Christian Science Monitor, page B16:

     Sportswear looks continue to influence women's courtwear with wrapped or knife-pleated skirts, bolero tie-blouses worn over bandeau bras, and sweatery knits.

   • 1981, Bonnie August, Ellen Count, “Dress Thin to Win: Active Sportswear”, in The Complete Bonnie August’s Dress Thin System: 642 + Ways to Correct Figure Faults with Clothes, New York, N.Y.: Rawson, Wade Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 200:

     Basic Dress Thin courtwear for any lower-torso proportion problem: smoothly tailored shorts (left) with vertical pockets, a flat fly, no cuffs—nothing to break the line or create bulk below the waist.

   • 1996 March 25, Susan Martin, “Tennis: Whites to brights”, in The Buffalo News, page C-8:

     In Between “courtwear” is a blend of cotton, polyester and Spandex that creates a layered look under skirts and tops.

   • 1997 September 30, Malcolm Parry, “In the guestbook at Duthie’s 40th birthday”, in The Vancouver Sun, volume 112, number 121, page B5:

     A few sporting fellows wore striped blazers and cream slacks, and a dozen women modelled flapper ensembles and courtwear from plus-fours-attired Ivan Sayer’s garment museum.

   • 1998 November 15, Elaine Glusac, “The athletic aesthetic”, in Chicago Tribune‎^[1]:

     “People are dressing more casual on a daily basis and they come to us looking for clean, classic athletic clothes that are comfortable,” says Andrea Huff, apparel marketing director for Reebok, which outfits [Venus] Williams in nightclub-worthy courtwear including silver shifts.

   • 2011 June 20, “Tennis brights”, in Evening Standard, page 28:

     Wimbledon will waive its white-only rule for the Olympic tennis next year. Karen Dacre serves up sizzling courtwear for colour converts

2. Clothing to be worn in a court of law.
   • 1996, Bernard Schwartz, Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases, New York, N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 20:

     It was perhaps unchivalrous to complain when the first women Justices began to brighten their courtwear with what Time called “modish, attention-getting dickeys.”

   • 1996, E. L. Wyrick, Power in the Blood, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 60:

     Forty-five minutes later I walked into the courthouse in Braxton. […] White was dressed in a white turtleneck shirt adorned with three gold necklaces. That courtwear was a poor enough choice, but was boundlessly overshadowed by his coat.

   • 1999 November 22, Clare Dyer, “A very public wigging”, in The Guardian, page 11:

     People interviewed for the Paths to Justice survey were not asked about judges’ courtwear, but they gave their views anyway.

   • 2002 April 26, Paul Cheston, “Most dispiriting trial”, in Evening Standard, page 4:

     To fit in with the strictures of a European court ruling since the trial of two 10-year-old boys accused of killing three-year-old James Bulger, the judge and barristers, clerk and ushers had to dump their normal courtwear for lounge suits.

Further reading

• Court dress on Wikipedia.Wikipedia