▪ I. kirtle, n.1
(ˈkɜːt(ə)l)
Forms: α. 1 cyrtel, 3 cuer-, cuyrtel, 3–6 cur-, kur-, -tel(l(e, -til, -tyll; 4–5 cortel, -yl. β. 2 cer-, kier-, 2–5 kertel, (5 -tyl), 6 kertle, 6–7 -tell. γ. 3 cirtil, 3–8 kir-, kyr-, -tel, -til, etc., 5– kirtle, (6–8 kyrtle).
[OE. cyrtel = ON. kyrtill tunic (Da. kjortel tunic, gown, Sw. kjortel skirt, petticoat):—*kurtil-, app. a dim. of *kurt- ‘short’, commonly regarded as an early adoption of L. curtus. The sense ‘short coat’, as opposed to ‘long gown’, would suit the ordinary meaning of the ON. word, but does not apply to the use in Eng.]
1. A man's tunic or coat, originally a garment reaching to the knees or lower, sometimes forming the only body-garment, but more usually worn with a shirt beneath and a cloak or mantle above.
In early instances freq. transl. L. tunica. As the common name for an article of male attire, kirtle seems to have gone out of use about or shortly after 1500; writers of the 16th and 17th c. use it chiefly in describing robes of state. It survived to some extent in dialects, applied to a short jacket or blouse (see quots. 1706 and 1828).
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §17 Se byrdesta sceall ᵹyldan..berenne kyrtel oððe yterenne. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 64 Nimað þis gold..Bicᵹað eow pællene cyrtlas. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. Matt. vii. 15 Warnieð eow wið leasan witeᵹen, þe cumeð to eow on sceapene kertlen. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 139 He ches..Stiue here to shurte and gret sac to curtle. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 127 Se þe benimð ðe þine kiertel, ȝif him þine mantel. c 1290 Becket 1155 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 139 Is Cuyrtel ȝwijt blaunket. a 1300 Cursor M. 4161 His kyrtil [Gött. MS. cirtil] sal we riue and rend. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 135 I-clad he was..Al in a kirtel of a lyght waget. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 307 Þe curtelle of wolle and a pilche. a 1440 Sir Eglam. 1255 To onarme hym the knyght goys In cortyls, sorcatys and schorte clothys. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxxvii. 276 A man..barefote, and in a whyte kyrtell. 1552 Huloet, Kyrtyll of a kynge worne vnder the mantyll of estate, trabea. 1577 Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 116 Giuing them [knights of the Garter] a kirtle, gowne, cloke, chaperon [etc.]. 1706 Phillips, Kirtle, a kind of short Jacket. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xiii. 485 In such a kirtle as the eyes of all Shall loath to look on. 1828 Craven Dial, Kytle, a kirtle, or a short coat without laps or skirts. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 341 A white-haired elder clad in kirtle red. |
2. A woman's gown. b. A skirt or outer petticoat. (See quot. a 1825.)
App. in common use down to about 1650, and now, as an archaism, much more frequent than sense 1.
| α c 995 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. VI. 133 Hio becwið æðelf[læde] Elhhelmmes dehter..hyre twili brocenan cyrtel. c 1205 Lay. 4993 Heo nom hire on anne curtel [v.r. cuertel]..hire hem heo up i-tæh, hire cneon he was swiðe nehi. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 122 Scho ȝede out in hir smok..Withouten kirtelle or kemse. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 203 Her cortel..With precios perlez al umbe-pyghte. c 1440 Generydes 4395 The quene dede on hir kirtill fayre and well. c 1485 Digby Myst. v. 165 Here entreth v. virgynes in white kertelys. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 23 Though ny be my kyrtell, yet nere is my smocke. c 1550 Image Hypocr. i. 417 in Skelton's Wks., Your curtles be of silke With rochetes white as mylke. 1650 Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples ii. (1664) 9 Ladies and gentlewomen were for⁓bidden likewise to go abroad with wide-hoop'd gowns or kirtles. 1742 Shenstone Schoolmistr. 65 A russet kirtle fenc'd the nipping air. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Kirtle, an outer petticoat to protect the other garments from dust, &c. in riding... Scarcely, if ever, heard of now that pillions are so gone out of use. 1873 Ouida Pascarèl I. 117 In her ruddy serge kirtle and her great Tuscan hat. |
3. fig. A coat or covering of any kind; a coating of paint.
| 1398, 1582 [see curtel]. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 417 Thre kyrtils do theron, of marbul greyne; But first let on be drie, and then engre[y]ne A smaller cote aboue on that. 1878 R. W. Gilder Poet & Master 14 The gray rock had not made Of the vine its glistening kirtle. |
4. attrib. and Comb.
| 1530 in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 118 To by a kyrtilcloth for my mother. 1725 Cock-laird in Orpheus Caledonius (1829), I maun hae a silk hood, A kirtle-sark, wyliecoat, And a silk snood. a 1800 Clerk's Twa Sons in Child Ballads (1857) II. 67 Ben it came the Mayor's dauchters Wi' kirtle coat alone. |
▪ II. † kirtle, n.2 Obs.
? An error for kintle, quintal.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 106/2 Kirtle Flax is twelve heads in a bunch, and is about an hundred pounds in weight. 1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), A Kirtle of Flax is the quantity of about 100 pounds Weight, containing 12 Heads in a Bunch. |
▪ III. kirtle, v.
(ˈkɜːt(ə)l)
[f. kirtle n.1]
trans. To cover or envelop as with a kirtle.
| 1888 A. S. Wilson Lyric of Hopeless Love lxviii, Dreams Kirtle thee in robes too fair For jealous Dawn to see thee wear. 1896 J. Lumsden Poems 198 Corn fields..Kyrtle This God's acre like a queen. |