shirt-waist

A woman wears a crisp shirt-waist with a long skirt.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A woman's blouse: "shirt-waist" refers to a tailored blouse for women, typically resembling a man's shirt in style, often with a collar, cuffs, and buttons down the front. It was a common garment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • She wore a crisp white shirt-waist with a high collar for the formal dinner. (A woman's blouse resembling a man's shirt.)
  • The historical exhibit displayed a shirt-waist from the 1910s, made of fine cotton. (A tailored blouse from that era.)

Advanced Usage

• "Shirt-waist factory": a historical term for a workplace where shirt-waists were manufactured, often associated with labor movements.
  • The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 highlighted unsafe working conditions. (A factory producing women's blouses.)

Variants and Related Words

• Shirt-waist dress (n): a dress that has a bodice resembling a shirt, with a waistline and skirt attached.

  • She wore a shirt-waist dress with a belted waist for the garden party. (A dress styled like a shirt-waist.)

• Shirtwaist (also written as one word): an alternative spelling for the same garment.

  • The shirtwaist was a staple of women's fashion in the early 1900s. (Same as shirt-waist.)

Synonyms

• Blouse: a loose upper garment worn by women.
• Shirt: a garment for the upper body, typically with a collar and sleeves, though "shirt-waist" specifically implies a women's version.

Related Idioms

• "To wear the shirt-waist": a historical phrase meaning to adopt a more practical, tailored style of dress for women.
  • In the 1900s, wearing the shirt-waist symbolized a move toward independence and professionalism. (Adopting a practical female garment.)