A clotheshorse (often written as two words, ie clothes horse) also known as a winterdyke [1] or a clothes maiden, refers to a frame (usually wooden, metal or plastic) upon which clothes are hung after washing to enable them to dry. Compare with washing line.
The name clothes horse was in use by 1800. [2]
Since the 1950's, the term has been used to refer to people who are overly concerned or obsessed with dressing fashionably. (More recently, such people have also be described as "clothes whores"[3]).