skirt
/skɜːt//skɚt/
skirt noun: a separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.
Noun
skirt (countable and uncountable, plural skirts)
- A separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.
- "I like purple best," said Maida. "And old Schlegel has promised to make it for $8. It's going to be lovely. I'm going to have a plaited skirt and a blouse coat trimmed with a band of galloon under a white cloth collar with two rows of—"c. 1907, O. Henry, The Purple Dress
- A similar part of a dress or robe, etc., that hangs below the waist.
- The petticoats and skirts ordinarily worn are decidedly the heaviest part of the dress ; hence it is necessary that some reform should be effected in these.1885, Ada S. Ballin, chapter XI, in The Science of Dress in Theory and Practice
- “It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!”
Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League
- A loose edging to any part of a dress.
- A narrow lace, or a small skirt of fine ruffled linen, which runs along the upper part of the stays before, and crosses the breast, being a part of the tucker, is called the modesty piece.July 27, 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian no. 118
- A petticoat.
- A woman.
- "Mate," said the Cockney, after we'd finished about half the bottle, "it comes to me that we're a couple o' blightin' idjits to be workin' for a skirt."
"What d'ya mean?" I asked, taking a pull at the bottle.
"Well, 'ere's us, two red-blooded 'e-men, takin' orders from a lousy little frail, 'andin'...1931, Robert E. Howard, Alleys of Peril - But I tell ya, I can't help but like a guy who wants to rescue some skirt he fell for.2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport
- "Mate," said the Cockney, after we'd finished about half the bottle, "it comes to me that we're a couple o' blightin' idjits to be workin' for a skirt."
- Women collectively, in a sexual context.
- Sexual intercourse with a woman.
- A border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything.
- here in the skirts of the forest, like fringe upon a petticoat.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- I am a shadow now, alas! alas! / Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling / Alone: [...]1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC...
- A diaphragm, or midriff.
Verb
skirt (third-person singular simple present skirts, present participle skirting, simple past and past participle skirted)
- To be on or form the border of.
- The plain was skirted by rows of trees.
- The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv
- To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of.
- skirt a mountain
- An enormous man and woman (it was early-closing day) were stretched motionless, with their heads on pocket-handkerchiefs, side by side, within a few feet of the sea, while two or three gulls gracefully skirted the incoming waves, and settled near their boots.1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC
- To cover with a skirt; to surround.
- skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- To avoid or ignore (something); to manage to avoid (something or a problem); to skate by (something).
- Near-synonym: circumvent
- skirt the issue
- Synonyms:
- circumvent
skirt meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
skirt in Hindi
- article of clothing
- स्कर्ट skarṭ
- part of dress that hangs below waist
- दामन dāman
skirt in Tamil
- பாவாடை
skirt in Marathi
- article of clothing
- स्कर्ट skarṭa
skirt in Urdu
- article of clothing
- سْکَرْٹ skarṭ, دامَن dāman
- part of dress that hangs below waist
- دامَن dāman
More languagesFewer languages
- skirt in Bengali
- স্কার্ট skarṭo
- skirt in Telugu
- పరికిణి parikiṇi
- skirt in Malayalam
- പാവാട pāvāṭa
- skirt in Kannada
- ಕೆಳ ಉಡುಪು, ಒಳ ಉಡುಪು, ಗಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿರು, ಗಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸುತ್ತಾಡು
- skirt in Punjabi
- ਸਕਰਟ, ਸਕਾਰਟ
- skirt in Gujarati
- સ્કર્ટ, સ્કાર્ટ
- skirt in Odia
- ସ୍କର୍ଟ skarṭa
- skirt in Sinhala
- සාය sāya
- skirt in Nepali
- स्कर्ट, स्कार्ट
- skirt in Pashto
- لمن lamën
- skirt in Tagalog
- palda
- skirt in Arabic
- تَنُّورَة tannūra, جُوب jūb, خَرَّاطَة ḵarrāṭa, وَزَرَة wazara
- skirt in Malay
- skirt
- skirt in Indonesian
- rok
- skirt in Thai
- กระโปรง grà-bproong
- skirt in Vietnamese
- váy, vạt
- skirt in Myanmar
- စကတ် ca.kat, ထဘီ hta.bhi
Examples of skirt in a sentence
- He skirted the issue of which parties to attend by staying at home instead.
- Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malone!1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- The railway, which is single track throughout, skirts the left bank of the estuary of the River Colne, and was washed out over a length of about three miles.1953 December, “Brightlingsea trains to be Restored”, in Railway Magazine, page 793:
- As we skirted the shores of the Dornoch Firth, between Tain and Bonar Bridge, the views across the water to the Sutherland mountains were particularly fine in the early morning sunshine.1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 6:
- After Nanhsi, head into the hills again as you skirt Tsengwen Reservoir on a roller coaster of steep grades.1994, Roger Grigsby, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China's East Coast (China by Bike), The Mountaineers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 108:
Synonyms of skirt
Forms of skirt
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | skirts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | skirts |
| present participle | skirting |
| past participle | skirted |
| past | skirted |
Origin of skirt
From Middle English scyrt, skirt, skyrte, skyrthe, skyrtte, from Old Norse skyrta, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ (“apron; skirt”), from *skurtaz (“short; deficient”), from *skertaną (“to cut off”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off; to divide”). Doublet of shirt. Cognates Cognate with Yola shoorth, skoorth (“shirt”), North Frisian Sjürt (“shirt”), Saterland Frisian Schoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjorte (“shirt”), Faroese skjúrta (“shirt”), Icelandic skyrta (“shirt”), Swedish skjorta (“shirt”), Irish sciorta (“skirt; strip”), Welsh sgert (“skirt”).
Words formed from skirt
- apron skirt
- bedskirt
- beskirt
- bit of skirt
- blow one's skirt up
- blow someone's skirt up
- blow sunshine up someone's skirt
- blow wind up someone's skirt
- chase skirt
- circle skirt
- cling to the skirts of
- divided skirt
- fender skirt
- fishtail skirt
- flippy skirt
- foreskirt
- golden skirt
- grass skirt
- hobble skirt
- hoop skirt
- hula skirt
- lightskirt
- matchbox skirt
- maxiskirt
- mermaid skirt
- microskirt
- midiskirt
- miniskirt
- outskirt
- outskirts
- overskirt
- pelmet skirt
- pencil skirt
- pettiskirt
- plateskirt
- poodle skirt
- prairie skirt
- pro skirt
- puffball skirt
- rah-rah skirt
- ra-ra skirt
- red ring skirt
- redskirt
- riding skirt
- saddleskirt
- sailor skirt
- scooter skirt
- skapri
- skirtboard
- skirt chaser
- skirt dance
- skirt dancing
- skirted
- skirt finger
- skirt flashing
- skirtful
- skirt guard
- skirtini
- skirtless
- skirtlike
Phrases with skirt
- skirt suit
- tube skirt
- light skirt
- skirt steak
- skirt suits
- chased skirt
- chases skirt
- skirt around
- skirt dances
- skirt steaks
- bits of skirt
- chasing skirt
15 more phrasesFewer phrases
- skirt chasers
- skirt fingers
- waterfall skirt
- blew someone's skirt up
- blown someone's skirt up
- blows someone's skirt up
- blowing someone's skirt up
- blew wind up someone's skirt
- blown wind up someone's skirt
- blows wind up someone's skirt
- blowing wind up someone's skirt
- blew sunshine up someone's skirt
- blown sunshine up someone's skirt
- blows sunshine up someone's skirt
- blowing sunshine up someone's skirt
Words that rhyme with skirt
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- advert
- alert
- divert
- inert
- avert
- concert
- deconvert
- girt
- lirt
- shirt
- spurt
- subvert
- vert
- wort
- blurt
- chert
- curt
- desert
- dessert
- exert
- introvert
- Leaving Cert
- overt
- red alert
- sturt
- wert
- ambivert
- ambiverts
- apert
- Baie Verte
- begirt
- BERT
- birt
- dissert
- extrovert
- gert
- gurt
- insert
- Kurt
- pirate shirt
- poet shirt
- puffball skirt
- quirt
- reassert
- smirt
- unalert
- unhurt
- wedding shirt
Questions about skirt
- What does skirt mean?
- Skirt means a separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.
- What is skirt in Hindi?
- Skirt in Hindi is स्कर्ट (skarṭ), दामन (dāman). See Skirt meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use skirt in a sentence?
- He skirted the issue of which parties to attend by staying at home instead.
- What part of speech is skirt?
- Skirt can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce skirt?
- Skirt is pronounced /skɜːt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of skirt?
- The plural of skirt is skirts.
Words near skirt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: skirt (page history and authors); skirt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പാവാട (Malayalam) (page history and authors); skirt (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); skirt (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); skirt (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); skirt (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); لمن (Pashto) (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-uk-skirt.ogg, en-us-skirt.ogg.
Cite this entry: “skirt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skirt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.