plural noun

1. personal belongings
2. any collection of articles, usually things used in some activity; equipment; apparatus; trappings; gear
3. Law, Obsolete
   1. personal property given to a wife by her husband which he may dispose of during his life, but which passes to her at his death
   2. the separate personal property of a wife over which her husband has no control

Etymology: ML, short for paraphernalia bona, wife's own goods < LL parapherna < Gr, bride's possessions beyond her dower < para-, beyond (see para-) + phernē, a dowry, portion < pherein, to bear