Definition: A partially clothed or intentionally unkempt state; a state of being intentionally unkempt and casually dressed—a negligee state.

Usage: All the English dictionaries now accept the English misspelling of the word as primary: "dishabille." We would still prefer "deshabille" but will not engage in one of our fanciful flights of futility on this one. The accepted spelling, however, suggests the pronunciation, "dish a bill (or two my way)" but you must remember that the [s] and the [h] do not go together; in fact, the [h] is a silent French [h]. As you can see from the variations in pronunciation (there are more), we haven't really decided how to pronounce it, either.

Suggested Usage: This word refers to a state of dress we generally prefer when we are at home: "Abigail's every day dishabille looks better than my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes." This state of dress originally thumbed its nose at fashion until fashion accommodated it with many lines of dishabille styles.

Etymology: Today's word is the past passive participle of the French verb déshabiller "to undress," made up of des- "un-" + habiller "to clothe." This word was a result of the confusion of habit "clothing" with the Old French verb abiller "to dress a log (strip it of its leaves and branches) composed of a- "toward" + bille "log." The diminutive of "bille" came to English as billet "a piece of firewood" and went on to become billy "(policeman's) club."