Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👦 A boy's name 🏥 A hospital gown
johnnie

johnnie

1 9.6
A thin gown patients wear in hospital
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒɑni/
  • Slang
translation icon : bata de hospital
  • An old man in a johnnie is sitting in one of the chairs not too far away.

Examples

  • He's on an examination table in his normal clothes, not a hospital johnnie.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The patient wore a johnnie as he prepared for surgery.

  • He thought Blaine was just one more stage door johnnie.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • She yanks Trevor's johnnie down, wheels a defibrillator over to his dying body, and grabs the paddles.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • She helped her friend adjust the johnnie before the doctor arrived.

  • In the recovery room, many patients were dressed in johnnies waiting for their check-ups.

Synonyms

johnny
vsjohnnie
  • Slang
7.8

A loose hospital gown worn by patients, or a casual name for a male person

refers only to hospital gowns and is a slang medical clothing term

Surface Forms

johnnie singular
johnnies plural

Morphology

johnnie = John (opaque) = john + johnny + ie

Although formed from the name 'John' plus the diminutive '-ie', the sense 'hospital gown' is an idiomatic metonymy and is not predictable from the name.

Etymology

Johnnie for a hospital gown probably comes from the common name Johnny, which people once used for plain, everyday clothing given to patients. So a johnnie is a simple gown that patients wear.