Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long loose dress that hangs free from the shoulders.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A long loose fitting dress made of lightweight fabric printed with bright, stylized Hawaiian themes (such as flowers and palm branches).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a woman's loose unbelted dress

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hawaiian mu‘umu‘u, cut off, muumuu (so called because it has short sleeves and a deeply cut neck, in contrast to the European-style dresses introduced to Hawaii earlier).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Hawaiian muʻumuʻu

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Examples

  • "muumuu," a Hawaiian word that looks every bit as cool upside down.

    unknown title 2009

  • Until I read the comment from the lady with the Hawaiian grandmother, I did not know it was a Hawaiian word, I just thought a muumuu was a big tent dress you wore when you couldn't fit into other clothes and you just didn't care anymore (this was an impression I had formed as a child) These are some of the prettiest dresses I have ever seen.

    Hawaiian Dresses 2009

  • Perhaps last year's caftan will migrate into a muumuu, which is just a step removed from the house dress.

    post-gazette.com - News 2010

  • I could not, could NOT understand why any woman would ever want to be caught dead in what I envisioned as a "muumuu".

    Hawaiian Dresses 2009

  • When Bustamante announced the word "muumuu," adult audience members looked quizzically at each other.

    unknown title 2009

  • Consider it a mestizo muumuu, except much classier and not as trashy as your woman's ilk.

    Gustavo Arellano: ¡ASK A MEXICAN!: Special Mujer Edition Gustavo Arellano 2011

  • "If I'm looking for something, I need the sun," said Ms. Carmel, 39 years old, padding around her Brooklyn basement in a blue and white muumuu, her hair wrapped in a colorful scarf.

    With the Voodoo Crowd Sumathi Reddy 2011

  • Many of Kevin Pollard's costumes were unflattering: Ms. DiDonato spent most of the show slouching around in what looked like a muumuu and dreadlocks, Ms. de Niese's androgynous brown getup made nothing of her beauty, and Plácido Domingo Neptune was overpowered by hair and clothing that made him look silly rather than godlike.

    Promoting the Baroque In an ADHD World Heidi Waleson 2012

  • Almost invariably, for some reason, the overweight person is a huge offender, even though dressed in the muumuu or bowling shirt and sweatpants, they still manage to make up for looking bad by trying to smell good and are therefore a huge nuisance.

    Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011

  • She wore a muumuu and slippers and thick black sunglasses like she secretly wanted to be cool.

    Slice Of Cherry Dia Reeves 2011

Comments

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  • loose-fitting dress often in a garish Hawaiian print.

    December 10, 2006

  • ..is moo.

    July 9, 2007

  • So Finnish cows say muu muu. . .I wonder what they wear. :)

    July 10, 2007

  • Why, moo moos, of course. ;-)

    July 10, 2007

  • Especially in Gary Larson cartoons!

    July 10, 2007

  • Yes! And cat's-eye glasses, too. :-)

    July 10, 2007

  • Ha Ha, I get a chuckle out of youse.

    July 10, 2007

  • Muumuu: Typed with one finger only. Check it out!

    September 22, 2008

  • the original word has 4 syllables, whereas the English borrowing has 2. this looks odd to my eyes because I'm so used to seeing English borrowings in Korean attain extra syllables (e.g. stand has 3 in the K version; 'ice cream' has 5)

    September 21, 2009

  • I love writing this word in cursive.

    March 10, 2011

  • Well--to be more specific--I love writing this word in cursive and then turning it upside down.

    March 18, 2011