shirtwaist
Jan. 1st, 2026 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordshirtwaist (SHURT-wayst) - (US) n., a woman's tailored garment such as a blouse or dress with details copied from men's dress shirts.
Most obvious being buttoning down the front, but other details such as type of collar were also copied. Originally (in the 1870s) this was just a type of blouse, but the styling has since also been used on the bodice portion of dresses -- in which case it is also sometimes called a shirtdress and shirtwaister. At the time, waist was a common American English term for a blouse and for the bodice of a dress, but that sense has faded away except in this fossil, which itself is not very common anymore.
---L.
Most obvious being buttoning down the front, but other details such as type of collar were also copied. Originally (in the 1870s) this was just a type of blouse, but the styling has since also been used on the bodice portion of dresses -- in which case it is also sometimes called a shirtdress and shirtwaister. At the time, waist was a common American English term for a blouse and for the bodice of a dress, but that sense has faded away except in this fossil, which itself is not very common anymore.
---L.
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Date: 2026-01-01 09:48 pm (UTC)