Definition of bloody shirt
: something intended to stir up or revive partisan animosity
—usually used in the phrase wave the bloody shirt
Keep scrolling for more
Test Your Vocabulary
Who Knew?
-
- What is a ruelle?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
A daily challenge for crossword fanatics.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Share bloody shirt
Time Traveler for bloody shirt
The first known use of bloody shirt was in 1670
See more words from the same year