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Line 1: {{Short description\|Frame for air drying wet laundry}} [[Image:Clotheshorse.jpg\|right\|thumb\|A clothes horse]]A '''clotheshorse''' (often written as two words, ie '''clothes horse''') refers to a frame (usually [[wood]]en or [[metal]]) upon which clothes are hung after [[washing]] in order to enable them to dry. They are often shaky and prone to break easily. Compare with [[washing line]]. {{About\|a method of drying clothes\|a dandified dresser\|fop}} ~~The first known use of this word in print, in this sense, was in [[1775]].~~ {{lead extra info\|date=September 2022}} [[Image:Clotheshorse.jpg\|thumb\|A clothes horse]] The term "'''clothes horse'''" is used to refer to a portable frame upon which wet [[laundry]] is hung to dry by [[evaporation]]. The frame is usually made of wood,<ref>{{cite web \|title=A Comprehensive Guide to Clothes Horse \|url=https://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/pages/comprehensive-guide-clothes-horse#4400176 \|website=Lifestyle Clotheslines \|access-date=26 June 2024}}</ref> metal or plastic. It is a cheap low-tech piece of [[laundry]] equipment, as opposed to a [[clothes dryer]], which requires electricity to operate, or a [[Hills Hoist]], which requires ample space, wind and fine weather. It also served as an alternative to an [[airing cupboard]]. In cold, damp seasons and in the absence of central heating, a clothes horse placed by a fireside or a kitchen range provides a place to warm clothing before putting it on. The practice of airing, once ubiquitous in Great Britain, for example, in the constant battle against damp and mold, has become far less common with the advent of central heating and affordable clothes dryers.<ref>{{Cite web\|title="Airing" clothes - necessary or just extra work? {{!}} Mumsnet\|url=https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3346283-Airing-clothes-necessary-or-just-extra-work\|access-date=2021-07-31\|website=www.mumsnet.com\|language=en\|archive-date=2021-07-31\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731125053/https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3346283-Airing-clothes-necessary-or-just-extra-work\|url-status=live}}</ref> ~~'''Clotheshorse''' also refers to a person dressed in a conspicuously and showy way.~~ By [[1850]] this figurative sense of the word was in common use, appearing in the writings [[Thomas Carlyle]] amongst others, who wrote of "''idlers, game-preservers, and mere human clothes-horses''" (''[[Latter Day Pamphlets]]'', No. III. ''DOWNING STREET'', [[April 1]], [[1850]]). ==Terminology== ~~The intended implication of this use was that the person's main function was simply to wear clothes, and that he or she had no other use.~~ Other names for this device include a '''clothes rack''', '''drying horse''', '''clothes maiden''', '''drying rack''', '''scissor rack''', '''garment donkey''', '''drying stand''', '''airer''', or (Scots) Winter Dyke.<ref name=DLSdyke>{{cite web\|title=DYKE, DIKE, n. and v.\|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=16546&startset=10317947&query=DYKE&fhit=Dyke&dregion=form&dtext=snd#fhit\|work=Dictionary of the Scots Language\|publisher=Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd\|accessdate=8 January 2013}}{{dead link\|date=September 2022}}</ref> ==Types== There are many types of clothes horses: large, stationary outdoor ones; smaller, folding portable racks; and wall-mounted drying racks. A clothes horse is similar in usage and function to a [[clothes line]], and used as an alternative to the powered [[clothes dryer]]. An electric alternative exists, usually known as a heated clothes airer. An [[overhead clothes airer]] can be lowered by its [[pulley]] mechanism to a convenient height for loading the wet laundry, and then hoisted out of the way to ceiling height while the clothes dry. <gallery mode="packed" heights="200"> File:Drying clothes.jpg\|A drying rack File:Modern hanging clothes horse with pulley system.jpg\|An [[overhead clothes airer]] with pulleys </gallery> ==Figurative usage== The term ''clothes horse'' can be used to describe people who are passionate about clothing and always appear in public dressed in the latest styles. From 1850 the term referred to a male [[fop]] or female [[Dandy#Quaintrelle\|quaintrelle]], a person whose main function is, or appears to be, to wear or show off clothes.<ref name=OED>Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., documents use of "clothes horse" in 1807, and "human clothes horse" in 1850</ref> In this context, the term is similar to "[[fashion plate]]", which originally referred to a [[lithography\|lithograph]] illustration of fashionable clothing in a book or magazine. ''Clothes horse'' can also be used to describe people who are employed primarily to display clothing.<ref>{{cite book \|title=New Oxford Thesaurus of English \|editor-last1=Hanks \|editor-first1=Patrick \|date=2000 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|location=Oxford \|isbn=0-19-860261-8 \|quote= mannequin ''noun'' 2. ''mannequins on the catwalk'' MODEL, fashion model, supermodel; ''informal'' clothes horse}}</ref> The term is often used pejoratively, for example to imply that an actor or actress has been cast in a role primarily to [[Model (person)\|show off]] costumes rather than for his or her acting ability. == See also == * [[Laundry-folding machine]] ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Laundry navbox}} [[Category:Home]] [[Category:Laundry drying equipment]] [[Category:Domestic implements]] [[Category:English words and phrases]] [[Category:Simple living]]