▪ I. shirt, n.
(ʃɜːt)
Forms: 1 scyrte, 3 s(c)hurte, (schuyrte, scurte, seorte), 4 schirte, sserte, 4–5 schert(e, schorte, 4–6 sherte, 5 schyrt, 5–6 shyrt(e, shurt(e, shirte, shorte, (5 shyrth, 6 shertt, sherth), 6– shirt.
[OE. scyrte wk. fem. corresponds formally to MDu. schorte (mod.Du. schort fem.) apron, MLG., LG. schört(e, schorte apron (locally also thin gown worn by women), G. schürze fem. apron (not found before late 17th c.), ON. skyrta shirt (Sw. skjorta, Da. skjorte shirt; from the ON., with unexplained difference of sense, is Eng. skirt n.):—OTeut. type *skurtjōn-, prob. f. *skurto- short a., the various senses which the n. has in the Teut. languages being probably diverse applications of the original sense ‘short garment’. A cognate form *skurto-z is represented by MHG., mod.G. schurz masc., apron.]
1. a. An undergarment for the upper part of the body, made of linen, calico, flannel, silk, or other washable material. Originally always worn next to the skin (cf. 2 e); now sometimes an undershirt or ‘vest’ is worn beneath it. Formerly a garment common to both sexes (cf. chemise), but now an article of male attire (cf. sense 3 a) with long sleeves (often terminating in wristbands or cuffs). Also, an infant's undergarment with short body and sleeves.
The meaning of the word in OE. is obscure, as the only instance of its occurrence is a gloss in which the meaning of the Latin word was probably not understood.
boiled shirt (U.S.), a white linen shirt as distinguished from a coloured or flannel shirt. coloured shirt, one made of a coloured material, as distinguished from a white shirt. day shirt, a more emphatic name for the shirt worn during the day time as distinguished from a night-shirt. † historical shirt, ‘one adorned with worked or woven figures’ (Fairholt). illustrated shirt, jocularly used for coloured shirt. Also hair-shirt, half-shirt.
| [a 1000 Boulogne Glosses 143 in Germania (N.S.) XI. 393 Scyrte prætexta, tunecan togæ.] c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 139 He turnde ut of þe burh into wilderne..and ches..stiue here to shurte and gret sac to curtle. c 1205 Lay. 23761 Warp he an his rugge..ænne cheisil scurte [c 1275 seorte] & ænne pallene curtel. 1340 Ayenb. 191 He yaf ofte his kertel and his sserte to þe poure uor god. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶197 Where been thanne the gaye Robes and the smale shetes and the softe shertes? c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 871 Se that youre souerayne haue clene shurt & breche. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. i. (1520) 7 b/1 Hercules..was betrayed by a sherte that Deyanira his wyfe sent hym empoysoned. 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 14 §1 And that no manne undre the degree of a Knyght were any garded or pynshed Sherte. 1530 Palsgr. 267/1 Shirt for a man, chemise. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. i. 81 Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other,..he comes before me. 1625 Fletcher Cust. Country ii. i, Having a Mistris, sure you should not be Without a neate historicall shirt. 1705 Addison Italy 5 (Monaco), We here saw several Persons, that in the midst of December had nothing over their Shoulders but their Shirts. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. II. 483 A creditable day-labourer would be ashamed to appear in public without a linen shirt. 1799 H. Mitchell Scotticisms 77 A shirt is a man's under garment; a shift is a woman's. Many of the Scotch use shirt for both. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 51/2 Coloured, or ‘illustrated shirts’, as they are called, are especially objected to by the men [costermongers]. 1854 M{supc}Clure Rocky Mts. 412 (Farmer) In order to attend the Governor's reception I borrowed a boiled shirt. 1869 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. i, Bradley Headstone in his..decent white shirt..looked a thoroughly decent young man. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad lxii, They shook, they stared as white's their shirt. |
¶ shirt of fire (
poet.): the
tunica molesta (Juvenal
Sat. viii. 235), a tunic ‘smeared with inflammable materials’ (Seneca
Ep. xiv. 5) in which persons condemned to death by burning were enveloped.
| 1852 Alex. Smith Life Drama ii. 225 Like a pale martyr in his shirt of fire. |
b. bloody shirt: a blood-stained shirt exhibited as a symbol of murder or outrage. Also
fig.| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. vi. (Sommer) 25 b, People..hauing no banners, but bloudie shirtes hanged vpon long staues. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 266 The bloody shirt of the martyr was exposed in the mosch of Damascus. 1840 [L. Cass] France 44 (Cent.), [Foucher adds] It is by spreading out the miseries of the workmen, the bloody shirt of some victim,..that the people are excited to take arms. 1888 New York Weekly Times 21 Mar. (Farmer), It is reprehensible..for the Bourbons of the South to continue to play on the colour line—the Southern bloody shirt. |
c. shirt of hair:
= hair-shirt.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ix. ix. 24 b, Shortes of heer were also layde asyde. a 1550 Image Ipocr. iv. 222 in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 441/2 Some were shurtes of heres. 1781 Cowper Truth 81 In shirt of hair and weeds of canvass dress'd,..See the sage hermit. |
d. shirt of mail [
= F.
chemise de maille].
| 1522 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 400 No kynde of armor, as shorte of maylle. 1592 Stow Ann. 1086, 400 harquebuts in shirts of maile with morins. 1611 Cotgr., Iacquemard, a coat, or shirt of maile. 1864 Skeat tr. Uhland's Poems 356 How shall a maid's weak hand avail To make thee, my father, a shirt of mail? |
e. With qualifying word indicating a garment for a specific purpose.
| 1756–7 Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 183 For once bathing one pays six creutzers, and five more for the use of a bathing shirt. 1895 Stores' Price List, Gentlemen's Lawn Tennis and Cricketing Shirts... Cotton Football Shirts. |
f. Short for
night-shirt.
| 1843 Abdy Water Cure 140 Shirts and sheets, colder than any unfrozen water can be, are safely worn and lain in by many persons, who, during a hard frost, neither warm their beds nor their shirts. |
g. Applied to a loose garment resembling a shirt.
| 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 22 Some [inhabitants of Bornei] weare shertes of gossampine cotton, some beastes skinnes. 1841 Elphinstone India I. 313 note, The women wear a shirt like that of the men, but much longer. [Footnote] They call this shirt Cameess. 1848 Curzon Monast. Levant i. ii. (1897) 15 The boat returned with the local authorities, two old villagers, in long blue shirts. |
h. A shirt of a particular colour worn as the emblem or uniform of a political party or movement. Also
transf., the wearer of such a shirt.
Cf. blackshirt,
red shirt.
| 1864 [see red shirt, redshirt]. 1922 [see blackshirt, black shirt]. 1934 Times 28 Feb. 15/5, I beg leave to point out that our election law requires to be brought up to date, since it was framed at a time when the political ‘shirt’ parties were undreamt of. 1939 H. G. Wells Holy Terror ii. i. 114 Two purple shirts who had visited his rooms in his second year. 1940 E. A. Walker South Africa 23 Latterly more than one anti-Semitic ‘shirt’ movement has arisen owing a good deal to German encouragement and example. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Apr. 392/1 Antifalange, a commentary on an apologia for the old shirts of the Spanish fascist movement. |
2. Phrases.
a. † into,
† unto,
to one's (or the) shirt, so as to leave only one's shirt as a covering.
| c 1290 Sta. Crux 489 in S. Eng. Leg. 15 His cloþes he caste of euer-ech-on A-non to is schurte and to is briech. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1099 And of he rente vn-to his bare schirte. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 251 Þen þys Emperoure..dyspoylut hym to his schorte. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xx. 25 b, The prease was so greate..some of them..were stripped intoo their shyrtes. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 226 [They] were all stript to the shirt as soon as they had been taken. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables cxxvii. 118 A Prodigal Young Fellow that had sold his Cloths to his very Shirt. |
b. in one's shirt: in one's night attire; without one's outer garments; without one's coat and waistcoat.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 96 Save of a doghtir þat y left alas Slepyng..Alas y ne had her broght in her shert. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. xxiv. 452 And there with al sir Lamorak lepte out of the bedde in his sherte. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 63 Then came in the poore younglinges..bounde in ropes..one after another in their shertes, & euery one a halter about his neck. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 704. 1593 ― 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 57. 1592 Soliman & Perseda i. iii, Where in a shirt, but with my single Rapier, I combated a Romane. 1615 Kyd Sp. Trag. iii. xii, Bring me foorth in my shirt, and my gowne vnder myne arme. 1744 Love Cricket 4 The robust Cricketer, plays in his Shirt. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ii, The officer..escaped out of his bedroom window, and fled in his shirt. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. iv, General Dumouriez..finds the street covered with ‘four or five thousand citizens in their shirts’. |
† c. since, ere, etc. shapen was my shirt: since or before I was born,
esp. with reference to something ‘shapen’ or decreed before one's birth.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2629 Syn fyrst that day that shapyn was myn sherte..So ny myn herte never thing me come As thou. c 1386 ― Knt.'s T. 1566 That shapen was my deeth erst than my sherte. c 1402 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 489 Or I was born, my desteny was sponne By Parcas sustren..; For they my deth shopen or my sherte. a 1542 Wyatt Lover renounces 2 Alas..the carefull chaunce, shapen afore my shert. |
d. (To have)
not a shirt, more emphatically (to have, be worth)
not a shirt to one's back: no goods or possessions, not even the necessaries of life. (To give away)
the shirt off one's back: all one's possessions.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 1186, I holde hym riche al hadde he nat a sherte. 1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales (1901) 91 Admit he be not worth a Shirt to his back, he has Wealth enough, who holds himself content. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl., To Mrs. Gwyllim 28 Apr. (1815) 51 He would give away the shirt off his back. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. (1787) III. xxxi. 202 note, Augustus had neither glass to his windows, nor a shirt to his back. 1925 W. N. Burns Saga Billy the Kid 67 He was a free-hearted, generous boy. He'd give a friend the shirt off his back. 1980 Times 7 Oct. 10/5 One day this industry will have the shirt off my back. |
† e. one's shirt: used as a type of what is nearest to one's person.
not to tell one's shirt: to keep a matter strictly secret.
near is my shirt but nearer is my skin: a proverb meaning that one's own interests come before those of one's nearest friends.
Obs.| 1548 Hall Chron., 3 Hen. IV, 20 The kyng began..to muse on this request, and not without a cause, for in dede it touched him as nere as his sherte, as you well may perceiue by the Genealogy. 1579 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 67 To have every on in continuall ielouzye, lest he sitt over neere there schirtes or have familiar insighte in ther commendable and discommendable qualityes. 1586 Earl of Leicester Let. to Walsingham 7 June in Corr. (Camden) 291, I will warrant him hanged..but you must not tell your shirt of this yet. 1596 Lodge Marg. Amer. 103 My shirt is neare me, my lord, but my skin is nearest. 1625 T. Godwin Rom. Antiq. 155 Close sitteth my shirt, but closer sitteth my skinne. 1654 Clarke Papers (Camden) III. 12 The designe is secrett, knowne to the designer onely, whoe saith if hee thought his shirt knew it hee would burne it. |
f. slang. to bet one's shirt,
to put one's shirt on (a horse)
= to bet all one's money on.
to get (a person's) shirt out, to cause him to lose his temper.
to keep one's shirt on: to remain calm (
orig. U.S.).
to lose one's shirt: to lose all one's possessions.
| 1854 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 4 Nov. 447/3, I say, you durned ash cats, just keep yer shirts on, will ye? 1859 Hotten's Slang Dict. s.v. Shirty, When one person makes another in an ill humour he is said to have ‘got his shirt out’. 1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 30 Mar. 6/2 Bet thee my shirt Aunty Jane wins. 1897 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang s.v., To put one's shirt on a horse. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters i. 15 I'll tell you how, if you'll keep your shirt on. 1932 Wodehouse Louder & Funnier 113 Sure he knows you know, Bill... Don't get your shirt out. 1935 E. B. Mann Thirsty Range xi. 144 He hit the market..about the time the bottom dropped out of it. He lost his shirt! 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart i. i. 25 He had not foreseen ever having to put his shirt on either [woman]. 1945 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 554/1 Okay, okay—keep your shirt on. Let's see what can be done. 1954 T. S. Eliot Confidential Clerk ii. 63 Marriage is a gamble. But I'm a born gambler And I've put my shirt—no, not quite the right expression—Lucasta's the most exciting speculation I've ever thought of investing in. 1981 P. Theroux Mosquito Coast xi. 131 ‘Keep your shirt on,’ Father shouted. |
3. a. A woman's blouse or loosely-fitting dress-body with a collar, front and cuffs, somewhat resembling a man's shirt;
= shirt-blouse in 5 c.
| 1896 Westm. Gaz. 9 Apr. 3/1 There is no need for a shirt to be hard and unfeminine because it is called a shirt. 1913 Daily Graphic 24 Mar. 13/2 If a more dressy morning shirt is desired, the chiffon moiré is the favoured fabric. |
b. habit-shirt, a kind of chemisette: see
habit n. 12.
| 1834: see habit n. 12. 1844: see chemisette 2. 1912 E. Glyn Halcyone ii. 16 Miss Roberta..had her thin bones covered with a habit shirt of tulle. |
4. transf. An inner casing or covering.
† a. = amnion (
obs.).
b. Comm. and
Techn. (See
quots.) [
Cf. F.
chemise.]
| 1611 Cotgr., Agneliere, th' inmost of the three membranes which enwrap a wombe-lodged infant; called by some Mid⁓wiues..the childs shirt. 1640 in Court Min. E. India Co. 12 Aug. (1909) 75 That the Company is much prejudiced by allowing sugars to be ‘tared in the gunny’ instead of the buyers taking them ‘in their shirts’. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. Customs (1821) 211 The Messina package, which consists of three thicknesses, has its lining, or shirt, covered with a smooth oil cloth. 1868 Joynson Metals 16 The internal lining or shirt of the furnace. 1883 W. M. Williams in Knowledge 25 May 308/2 The fuel should be placed between these [iron bars], and thus form an upright cylindrical ring or shirt of fire, inclosed outside by the bricks. |
5. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple
attrib., as
shirt-breast,
shirt-collar (hence
shirt-collared adj.),
shirt-cuff,
shirt pocket,
shirt-wrist;
shirt-like adj. b. objective, as
shirt-ironer,
shirt-knitter,
shirt-maker,
shirt-washer;
shirt-making.
| 1847 Lytton Lucretia i. i, The diamond in his *shirt-breast. |
| 1557 Seager Sch. Virture 85 in Babees Bk., Thy *shyrte coler fast to thy necke knyt. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair iv, ‘Pooh, pooh, Miss Sharp,’ said he, pulling up his shirt-collars. |
| 1895 Du Maurier Trilby vi. 280 *Shirt-collared within an inch of their lives. |
| 1853 G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand xxiii, Enormous *shirt-cuffs..called attention to the hands. |
| 1891 Daily News 30 Nov. 7/1 An action brought by a *shirt-ironer. 1893 Laundry Managem. (ed. 2) 80 Some of the shirt ironers [sc. machines] have..a good-sized iron, heated by steam or gas. |
| 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 75 Hosiery Manufacture... *Shirt Knitter. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Shirt-maker; a sempstress; a tradesman who employs females to make shirts. 1886 C. E. Pascoe Lond. of Today xli. (ed. 3) 355 Hosiers, glovers, and shirt-makers. |
| 1897 19th Cent. Aug. 203 Londonderry..[with] its *shirt-making industry. |
| 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxiii. 150 The very young soldier reached into his *shirt pocket. 1977 D. Aitkin Second Chair i. 3 My hand in my shirt pocket, tugging at the little diary. |
| 1902 Daily Chron. 24 July 9/4 Laundry.—A good *shirt washer wanted. 1909 Ibid. 23 Jan. 8/3 Rotary Shirt Washer (Good secondhand, brass cylinder), wanted. |
| 1815 Ld. Broughton (J. C. Hobhouse) Recoll. Long Life (1901) I. 268 He had long white *shirt-wrists. |
c. Special comb.:
shirt-band = band n.2 4, also
dial. the wrist-band of a shirt;
shirt-blouse,
-bodice = sense 3 above;
shirt-bosom (now
U.S.)
= shirt-front;
shirt-button, a small-sized button of mother of pearl or the like pierced with thread holes, used as a fastening for shirts;
shirt-buttons (see
quot. 1880);
shirt case, a travelling case for shirts;
shirt cloth,
† (
a) ? a piece of cloth for a shirt; (
b) (see
quot. 1910);
shirt-cutter, one who cuts out shirts for the trade;
shirt-dress, a dress having a bodice styled like a shirt;
shirt-dresser (see
quot.); so
shirt-dressing (in
quot. attrib.);
shirt frame U.S. (see
quot.);
shirt-frill, a frill formerly worn on the front and wrist-bands of a shirt;
shirt front = front n. 9 d; also
transf. a white patch on the chest (of a dog) or on the breast (of another animal); also
attrib. of a cricket pitch: very smooth and even (
colloq.);
shirt gills jocular, the projecting ends of a stand-up collar;
shirt gown Sc. dial., a bodice;
shirt-jac = shirt jacket;
shirt-jacket chiefly
U.S., a loose-fitting linen jacket; a garment resembling a shirt but worn as a jacket;
shirt-lap, the tail of a shirt (
obs. exc. dial.);
shirtlifter Austral. slang, a male homosexual;
shirtmaker = shirt-waist dress below;
freq. attrib. (a proprietary term in the
U.S.);
shirt-man, a name applied to an American colonial rifleman in the war of Independence (see
quot. 1788);
shirt-pin, an ornamental pin used to fasten the shirt at the throat;
shirt ruffle = shirt-frill;
shirt stud, a stud for fastening a shirt;
shirt-stud-abscess (see
quot. 1898);
shirt-studded a., wearing (showy) shirt studs;
shirt-tail, (
a) the tail of a shirt; (
b)
U.S., used
attrib. or as adj. to designate something small and insignificant, or a remote relationship;
freq. as
shirt-tail boy, a very young boy;
shirt-waist orig. U.S., a shirt-blouse; also formerly a garment worn by men and boys;
freq. attrib. as
shirt-waist dress, a dress having a shirt-waist bodice;
shirtwaister = shirt-waist dress. Also
shirt-sleeve.
| 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §1 That no servyngman..shall weare any shirte or *shirte bande..made or wrought with Silke Golde or Silver. 1659 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) II. 236, 1 shirt, 1 shirtband. 1907 E. Rickert Golden Hawk xx. 160 A gush of..milk..trickling in warm currents between his neck and his shirt-band. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 19 May 8/1 Each girl makes..a *shirt-blouse. |
| 1907 E. M. Sellar Recoll. & Impr. xii. 161 From Brussels I brought home for the little girls red and blue *shirt-bodices and skirts. |
| 1833 J. Neal Down-Easters I. 3 His collar turned back, and his *shirt-bosom all open to the waist. 1856 Miss Warner Hills Shatemuc xiii, If shirt-bosoms gave out, the boys buttoned their coats over them. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v. Shirt-front, A dickey, or loose shirt bosom. 1889 Gunter That Frenchman xvi. 204 The champagne..is shaken..over his diamonds on his shirt-bosom. |
| 1651 R. Verney in M. M. Verney Memoirs (1894) III. ii. 38 Blew Thread, *Shirt Buttons and old White..Buttons. 1742 C. Carroll Let. 24 Nov. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1925) XX. 178 Three or four Papers good shirt Buttons but not made on Wire. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 437 Shirt Buttons..are disposed of in great quantities in the streets. 1978 P. Niesewand Underground Connections 123 He undid his shirt buttons and stripped to the waist. |
| 1880 Monthly Packet N.S. XXX. 409 Local names of plants... Stellaria Holostea—*Shirt-buttons, West Kent. |
| 1895 Stores' Price List, *Shirt Case to hold 18 Shirts. |
| 1540 Test. Ebor. VI. 118 To Thomas Dransfelde a *shirte cloithe, to John Coupe a shert clothe. 1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 277/1 Shirt⁓cloth is the term more commonly applied to what is actually used in the manufacture of shirts. |
| 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 75 *Shirt-cutter. 1909 Daily News 7 Jan. 7/1, I was a shirt-cutter by trade. |
| 1943 in C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothing Present Cent. (1952) viii. 273 Necklines avoid the *shirt-dress look which has been so widespread in recent years. 1973 Country Life 22 Feb. 492/1 If ever there was a right season to wear a shirt-dress, this is it. 1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. d 12/1 A delicate mini-floral two-piece shirtdress. |
| 1867 Simmonds Dict. Trade (1892) Suppl., *Shirt Dresser, a laundress who washes and prepares shirts for wear. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Shirt Frame, a Guernsey, or shirt knitting machine. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 211 A laundress..unrivalled in flounces and *shirt-frills. |
| 1838 Lytton Alice ii. ii, His black coat, neatly relieved..by a white under-waistcoat, and a *shirt-front admirably plaited. 1873 All Year Round 28 June 203/1 But why is a shirt-front popularly called a dickey? 1877 E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 104 The carp is to be stuffed... The skin may be left on his shirtfront. 1893 Kennel Gaz. Aug. XIV. 213/3 A liver bitch with a large shirt front. 1920 P. F. Warner Cricket 212 The result of all this work is that the pitch literally shines—and looks as if it had been ironed. ‘Shirt-front wickets’ they call them. 1963 Times 18 May 4/5 By merely bowling accurately, with seam upright, they presented problems which West Indian batsmen, reared on the shirt-front surfaces of their own grounds, found too complicated. 1967 L. Egan Nameless Ones xiii. 158 He [sc. the cat] was a handsome sight, his gray tiger stripes smooth and his white shirt front immaculate. |
| 1839 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 58 One young man..came to pay his respects to me in..*shirt gills which absolutely ingulfed his black visage. |
| 1889 A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. v. 725 A brave *shirt-gown. |
| 1964 Playboy Nov. 173 The cool, crisp and comfortable *shirt-jac which looks like a shirt, but is worn outside the trousers. 1977 Guardian Weekly 10 July 9/1 ‘Shirt-jacs’, as they call tropical suits in Trinidad. |
| 1879 Mrs. F. D. Bridges Jrnl. Lady's Trav. round World 20 Dec. (1883) 231 ‘Mynheer van Dunk’..appeared on deck..in ‘pyjamas’..; a loose white *shirt-jacket..completed his costume. 1975 Daily News (N.Y.) 26 July 12 Many leisure suits have shirt-jackets rather than the traditional jacket. |
| 13.. K. Horn (Harl. MS.) 1209 His *shurte lappe he gan take & wypede a wey þe foule blake. 1856 Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life ii, Tell the most impassioned orator, suddenly, that his wig is awry, or his shirt-lap hanging out,..and you would infallibly dry up the spring of his eloquence. |
| 1966 Baker Austral. Lang. (ed. 2) x. 216 *Shirt lifter, a sodomite. 1974 B. Humphries in Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Jan. 13 When I first seen them photos of him in his ‘Riverina Rig’ I took him for an out-of-work ballet dancer or some kind of shirtlifter. |
| 1926 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 15 June 584/2 Best & Co... *Shirtmaker frock..women's and children's dresses. 1960 Guardian 27 July 7/3 For this summer they have chosen a shirtmaker in drip-dry cotton. 1976 ‘R. Royle’ Cry Rape xx. 91, I chose a simple navy shirtmaker dress. |
| 1775 Pennsylv. Gaz. 16 Aug. 2/3 The damn'd *shirtmen, as they are emphatically called by some of his [the loyal governor's] minions. 1788 W. Gordon Hist. Independ. U.S. II. 112 Colonel Woodford had not more than 300 shirtmen (as they call the riflemen, on account of their being dressed in their hunting shirts). |
| 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. xiv. III. 344 Presenting him with a *shirt-pin, made of jewellers' gold-wire. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xiii, He was attracted by a handsome shirt-pin in a jeweller's window. |
| 1892 A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus (Ohio) I. 735 Kneebreeches were abandoned, and the *shirtruffles were reduced. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 334/2 In some windows..shawl-pins, *shirt-studs, necklaces. |
| 1898 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Shirt-stud abscess, form of abscess having a superficial cavity connected with a deeper one by a sinus. |
| 1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall 265 Noisy, blustering, *shirt-studded fellows. |
| 1845 J. Hooper Adventures Capt. Simon Suggs 13 From the time he was a ‘*shirt-tail boy’, [his wits] were always too sharp for his father's. 1846 J. W. Webb Altowan I. vi. 174 He..leaped into the river,..and made a shirt-tail across the prairie on the other side. 1873 Leland Egypt. Sketch-bk. 47 Rushing madly about, their blue-and-white shirt-tails waving in the wind. 1878 J. C. Guild Old Times in Tennessee 411, I traversed these granite hills and beautiful vales as a shirt-tail boy. 1929 W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 256 My people owned slaves here when you all were running little shirt tail country stores. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xxxiii. 421 Nobody but your folks'll bother with a little ol' shirt-tail boy like you. 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 24/2 Shirt-tail kin, a remote relationship. 1975 Publishers Weekly 8 Sept. 57/2 A shirttail relation of the hotel-owning branch of the family. |
| 1879 Harper's Bazaar 14 June 377 Kilt suits made here have the pleats stitched to a belt at the waist, and are then buttoned to a white *shirt waist. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. x. 236 The summer-boarder girls in pink and blue shirt-waists. 1902 Sears Catal. 819/3 Three hundred dozen men's regular $1·50 shirtwaists to go at 50 cents. 1957 Observer 1 Dec. 11/2 This gives the many lovely, tight-belted shirt-waist dresses a heavy look. 1980 Times 2 Sept. 10/1 The shirt-waist dress..is still a basic article of apparel. |
| 1957 Observer 1 Dec. 11/2 These *shirt-waisters are lovely, bodices luxuriously bloused [etc.]. 1973 Country Life 8 Mar. 633/2 The longer cardigan jacket..is worn in the daytime over shirtwaisters. |
▪ II. shirt, v. (
ʃɜːt)
[f. shirt n.] 1. trans. To clothe with or as with a shirt.
| 1601 Stow Ann. 1291 Friers Capuchins..girt with hempen cordes, shirted with haire-cloth, and bare footed. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 329 The better sort..shirt their coleblack skins with a pure white cloth. 1691 Dryden K. Arthur ii. i, Souls, as but this Morn' Were cloath'd with Flesh,..But naked now, or shirted but with Air. 1808 W. Wilson Dissenting Churches II. 581 One day shirting himself, he thoughtlessly put his studs between his lips. 1871 B. Taylor Faust ii. iii. (1875) II. 106 Quite naked most, a few are only shirted. |
2. (See
quot.)
| 1862 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XXIII. 315 ‘To shirt’ hay—that is, to wrap up an inferior quality in prime hay—is such a common practice in the neighbourhood of Paris. |
Hence
ˈshirted ppl. a.| 1693 d'Emillianne's Hist. Monast. Orders vii. 34 The Congregation of St. John of Lateran..have a kind of a Surplice..having the form of a Shirt, for which they are now commonly called in Italy Shirted Fathers, or Fathers of the Shirt. 1880 Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 178 Were we to hear all the roarings of the shirted Heracles. |