skirt

English Online Dictionary. What means skirt‎? What does skirt mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English skyrte, from Old Norse skyrta, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ. Doublet of shirt. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Skoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish skørt (“skirt”), Swedish skört (“hem of a jacket”), Norwegian skjørt (“skirt”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: skû(r)t, IPA^(key): /skɜːt/
• (US) enPR: skûrt, IPA^(key): /skɚt/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

Noun

skirt (plural skirts)

2. An article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower part of the body.
3. The part of a dress or robe, etc., that hangs below the waist.
4. A loose edging to any part of a dress.
   • July 27, 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian no. 118

     A narrow lace, or a small skirt of fine ruffled linen, which runs along the upper part of the stays before, and crosses the breast, being a part of the tucker, is called the modesty piece.

5. A petticoat.
6. (derogatory, slang) A woman.
7. (UK, colloquial) Women collectively, in a sexual context.
8. (UK, colloquial) Sexual intercourse with a woman.
9. The border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything.
10. The diaphragm, or midriff, in animals.

Usage notes

• (article of clothing): It was formerly common to speak of “skirts” (plural) rather than “a skirt”. In some cases this served to emphasize an array of skirts of underskirts, or of pleats and folds in a single skirt; in other cases it made little or no difference in meaning.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: スカート (sukāto)
• → Korean: 스커트 (seukeoteu)
• → Malay: skirt
• → Scottish Gaelic: sgiort

Translations

Verb

skirt (third-person singular simple present skirts, present participle skirting, simple past and past participle skirted)

1. To be on or form the border of.
2. To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:skirt.
3. To cover with a skirt; to surround.
4. (figurative) To avoid or ignore (something); to manage to avoid (something or a problem); to skate by (something).

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “skirt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Kirst, stirk

Malay

Etymology

From English skirt.

Noun

skirt (plural skirt-skirt)

1. skirt

Further reading

• “skirt” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Middle English

Noun

skirt

1. alternative form of skyrte

Swedish

Adjective

skirt

1. indefinite neuter singular of skir