/skɜːt/, /skɚt/
OriginFrom 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”).
- countable, uncountableA separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.
“"I like purple best," said Maida. "And old Schlegel has promised to make it for $8. It's going to be lovely. I'm going to have a plaited skirt and a blouse coat trimmed with a band of galloon under a ”
- countable, uncountableA similar part of a dress or robe, etc., that hangs below the waist.
“The petticoats and skirts ordinarily worn are decidedly the heaviest part of the dress ; hence it is necessary that some reform should be effected in these.”
““It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!”
Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The ot”
“I had sprung to my feet. I was speaking, and yet I had prepared no words. Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malone! Don't make a public ass of ”
- countable, uncountableA loose edging to any part of a dress.
“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.”
- countable, uncountableA petticoat.
- UK, colloquial, uncountableWomen collectively, in a sexual context.
- UK, colloquial, uncountableSexual intercourse with a woman.
- countable, uncountableA border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything.
“here in the skirts of the forest, like fringe upon a petticoat.”
“I am a shadow now, alas! alas! / Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling / Alone: [...]”
“That each, who seems a separate whole,
Should move his rounds, and fusing all
The skirts of self again, should fall
Remerging in the general Soul,
Is faith as vague as all unsweet: […]”
- countable, uncountableA diaphragm, or midriff.
- To be on or form the border of.
“The plain was skirted by rows of trees.”
“The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts o”
“The railway, which is single track throughout, skirts the left bank of the estuary of the River Colne, and was washed out over a length of about three miles.”
- To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of.
“skirt a mountain”
“An enormous man and woman (it was early-closing day) were stretched motionless, with their heads on pocket-handkerchiefs, side by side, within a few feet of the sea, while two or three gulls gracefull”
“As we skirted the shores of the Dornoch Firth, between Tain and Bonar Bridge, the views across the water to the Sutherland mountains were particularly fine in the early morning sunshine.”
- To cover with a skirt; to surround.
“skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold”
- figurativelyTo avoid or ignore (something); to manage to avoid (something or a problem); to skate by (something).
“Near-synonym: circumvent”
“skirt the issue”
“skirt the law”
Formsskirts(plural) · skirts(present, singular, third-person) · skirting(participle, present) · skirted(participle, past) · skirted(past)