shirt sleeves

Noun

shirt sleeves pl (plural only)

1. (plural, plural-only) Preceded by in: wearing only a shirt without a coat, jacket, or comparable protective covering over it.
   • A bunch of workmen were lying on the grass of the park beside Macquarie Street, in the dinner hour. It was winter, the end of May, but the sun was warm, and they lay there in shirt-sleeves, talking.1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Torestin”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 1
   • In flying in cold climates, people use the cabin heater to maintain a comfortable working environment and fly in shirt sleeves or a light jacket.2003, Jefferson M. Koonce, Human Factors in the Training of Pilots, →ISBN, page 122
2. (broadly, plural, plural-only) A working-class socioeconomic status (not requiring a professional business jacket).
   • It is to Andrew Carnegie that the expression is attributed in America, "There are only two generations between shirt sleeves and shirt sleeves," The remark is certainly not original with the genial Scot, who is playing such a successful " star engagement " before the American people, nevertheless...2005, Erastus Wiman, Chances of Success: Episodes and Observations in the Life of a Busy Man, →ISBN