redshirt
UK/ˈɹɛd.ʃəː(ɹ)t/
redshirt noun: a supporter of the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, especially a member of his thousand-man army which conquered Sicily. Also the alternative form of Red Shirt.
Noun (1)
redshirt (plural redshirts)
- A supporter of the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, especially a member of his thousand-man army which conquered Sicily.
- Loyal regiments from Naples and other provinces of the mainland fought valiantly and were victorious un several skirmishes against the redshirts near Capua.2011, David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy, Penguin, published 2012, page 196
- A revolutionary or anarchist.
- A college athlete who spends a year not participating in official athletic activities, but does not lose his or her eligibility to participate in following years.
- An unimportant character introduced only to be killed in order to underscore the peril to the important characters; an expendable character.
- Sensing danger, Captain Kirk decided to beam down to the surface with Spock, McCoy, and a couple of redshirts.
- I am not a goddamn redshirt! I have a purpose!2017, 42m, in 12 Monkeys, season 3, episode 6
- A person responsible for loading and unloading weapons, artillery, and equipment from aircraft.
Verb
redshirt (third-person singular simple present redshirts, present participle redshirting, simple past and past participle redshirted)
- To place an athlete in a status wherein the athlete will spend a year not participating in official athletic activities, but will not lose his or her eligibility to participate in following years.
- The university decided to redshirt the freshman linebacker to give him an extra year to build up his bulk.
- Being asked whether I was going to be redshirted had some status associated with it.2004, George R. Mills -, A View from the Bench, →ISBN
- To take on a status wherein one will spend a year not participating in official athletic activities.
- Hillman, who had come to Indiana without a scholarship (he now had one) from a Los Angeles suburb, wanted to redshirt so that he would have two years of eligibility left after Alford graduated. Smith didn't want to redshirt, he wanted to play.2012 -, John Feinstein, Season on the Brink, →ISBN, page 62
- To hold a child out of kindergarten for one year in the hope that the child will do better academically and socially.
- Parents who redshirt their 5-year-olds instead of enrolling them in kindergarten are a concern to some Nebraska educators who are trying to reverse the trend of holding children back until age 6 to start school.1985, March 1, "Some Educators Oppose Redshirting 5-Year-Olds," The Omaha World-Herald
Noun (2) capitalized: Redshirt
Redshirt (plural Redshirts)
- Alternative form of Red Shirt.
- Like the leaders they opposed, they had participated in the "Redshirt" campaign of 1876 and 1877 that redeemed the state for home rule and founded the new establishment.1986, Joel Williamson, A Rage for Order, →ISBN
- Families and supporters of the Redshirt protesters in Thailand handed in a letter to the London embassy yesterday calling for an end to the killings and suppression of pro-democracy campaigners.2011, A Year on The Sauce, →ISBN, page 19
Also used as
redshirt is also the alternative form of Red Shirt.
Forms of redshirt
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | redshirts |
| plural | Redshirts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | redshirts |
| present participle | redshirting |
| past participle | redshirted |
| past | redshirted |
Origin of redshirt
Calque of Italian camicia rossa, equivalent to red + shirt. In later senses with reference to the uniforms or outfits worn by such people. The fandom slang sense emerged from the tendency of red-uniformed Starfleet officers to die in episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.
Words formed from redshirt
- medical redshirt
Questions about redshirt
- What does redshirt mean?
- Redshirt means a supporter of the Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, especially a member of his thousand-man army which conquered Sicily.
- What part of speech is redshirt?
- Redshirt can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce redshirt?
- Redshirt is pronounced /ˈɹɛd.ʃəː(ɹ)t/ (UK).
- What is the plural of redshirt?
- The plural of redshirt is redshirts.
Words near redshirt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: redshirt (page history and authors); Redshirt (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-redshirt.ogg, en-au-redshirt.ogg.
Cite this entry: “redshirt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/redshirt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.