Orig. the distribution of food and clothing by a lord to his retainers. This giving of food or clothing was a regular occurrence, e.g. clothing being given annually. Food, too, might be given regularly, for example wine at Christmas. *Bracton says that livery 'is the transfer of a corporeal thing, one's own or another's, from one person to a second . . . a voluntary transference from one's own hand or another's, as that of a procurator, provided the transfer has his lord's consent'. In time 'livery' came to signify the clothing itself. At first, colours were simple russet or blue. Then, livery became part of the colour coding that evolved in medieval courts, which became increasingly wealthy and stratified. The coding had clerks wearing blue, knights green and *squires striped cloth, as did household servants; hence, later, part of the absurdity of Malvolio's wearing yellow stockings in Twelfth Night. Trade *guilds or misteries had their own liveries. [< Fr. livrer = dispense < Lat. libero = to give] -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.