1. A male student or graduate of a university, especially at Oxford or Cambridge, who is entitled to wear an academic gown.
Usage: chiefly British; historical or formal
2. A man who wears a gown as part of his professional or official dress, such as a lawyer or clergyman.
Usage: archaic or formal

Examples

• He was a gownsman at Cambridge during the 1950s.
• The gownsmen gathered in the college hall for the formal dinner.
• As a gownsman of the university, he was required to wear his academic robes to certain ceremonies.
• The distinction between townspeople and gownsmen was important in Oxford's history.
• Young gownsmen could be identified by their formal academic dress on the streets.