(vōg)
noun- The prevailing fashion, practice, or style: Hoop skirts were once the vogue.
- Popular acceptance or favor; popularity: a party game no longer in vogue. See Synonyms at fashion.
intransitive verb vogued,
vogue·ing or
vogu·ing,
vogues To dance by striking a series of rigid, stylized poses, evocative of fashion models during photograph shoots.
Word History: The history of the word
vogue demonstrates how sense can change dramatically over time even while flowing, as it were, in the same channel. The Indo-European root of
vogue is
*wegh-, meaning “to go, transport in a vehicle.” Among many other forms derived from this root was the Germanic stem
*wēga-, “water in motion.” From this stem came the Old Low German verb
wogōn, meaning “to sway, rock.” This verb passed into Old French as
voguer, which meant “to sail, row.” The Old French word yielded the noun
vogue, which probably literally meant “a rowing,” and so by extension “a course,” and figuratively “reputation” and later “reputation of fashionable things” or “prevailing fashion.” The French, who have given us many fashionable things, passed this noun on as well, it being first recorded in English in 1571.