Word.ws English Dictionary

straight shirttail

straight shirttail noun: a very hurried journey or movement, especially in return to a previous location; a dash.

Noun

straight shirttail (plural straight shirttails)

  1. (US, dated) A very hurried journey or movement, especially in return to a previous location; a dash.
    • The other boat closed with them. They had seen the seal basking on a low rock, but he was wary, and as soon as they came in sight, he flounced off the rock into the water, and made 'straight shirt-tails,' as the Yankees say, Allan taking a snap shot at him just ere he did so; but whether he had...1860 September, Francis Francis, “The Experiences of Sydney Godolphin Yahoo, Esq.”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, page 400
    • An' he made the funniest noise, tryin' to git his breath; kind of a 'w-e-e-k'—like a fat hog choked on an apple. Then he took a straight shirttail fer the open air; an' gittin' outside, he leaned up ag'inst the wall an' commenced to cry.1901, James Ball Naylor, Ralph Marlowe: A Novel, Akron, O.H. […]: Saalfield Publishing, page 59

Forms of straight shirttail

pluralstraight shirttails
alternative formstraight shirt-tail
alternative formstraight shirt tail

Origin of straight shirttail

Alluding to shirttails, which were formerly commonly worn by gentlemen. When someone would break into a run, they would rise into the air; hence, one might make "straight shirttails" when moving so fast that the shirttails become horizontal.

Questions about straight shirttail

What does straight shirttail mean?
Straight shirttail means a very hurried journey or movement, especially in return to a previous location; a dash.
What part of speech is straight shirttail?
Straight shirttail is a noun.
What is the plural of straight shirttail?
The plural of straight shirttail is straight shirttails.

Words near straight shirttail in the dictionary

  1. straight razors
  2. straight red
  3. straight red card
  4. straight red cards
  5. straight reds
  6. straight shirttail
  7. straight shirttails
  8. straight shooter
  9. straight shooters
  10. straight sinus
  11. straight sinuses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: straight shirttail (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.

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Cite this entry: “straight shirttail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/straight_shirttail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.