bodice

Noun

bodice (plural bodices)

1. A corset-like sleeveless overgarment for women, sometimes provided with detachable sleeves.
2. A blouse; any shirt for women, particularly the upper part of a two-piece dress or similar European folk costume.
   • As she knelt, too, her amber locks fell in rich ringlets about her beautiful head, her innocent bosom palpitated beneath the crimson boddice, and her timid blushes increased the effulgence of her charms.1829 June 10 (date written), [Washington Irving], “[The Legend of Don Roderick.] The Story of Florinda.”, in Legends of the Conquest of Spain (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 3), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry...
   • On the cover of the leaflet advertising the Alpenrose Gasthof in Zirl am Gurgl […] there is a decorative picture of a young woman. She is wearing Tyrolese costume: the low-cut white bodice with cross-laced velvet waistcoat, the floral apron and dirndl skirt.1956, Delano Ames, chapter 1, in Crime out of Mind
3. The upper portion of a women's one-piece dress, equivalent to a shirt, sometimes specifically excluding the sleeves.
   • Patty said, ‘It’s almost one of those awful parts where a girl is just brought in to stand and look sexy, and not really do anything. I don’t just want to come in wearing a tight open-bodice dress and be an ornament. I’m an actress; I want lines.’1964, Philip K. Dick, “NINE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 111
4. An underbodice: an undershirt for women.
   1. (archaic) Particularly a corset or other undershirt stiffened with whalebone.