shirt

noun

ˈshərt 

1

: a garment for the upper part of the body: such as

a

: a cloth garment usually having a collar, sleeves, a front opening, and a tail long enough to be tucked inside trousers or a skirt

b

: undershirt

2

: all or a large part of one's money or resources

lost his shirt on that business deal

shirtless

ˈshərt-ləs 

adjective

Examples of shirt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One company cited by Lectra has reportedly used the system to produce 5 million made-to-measure shirts in Vietnam for the U.S. market. —Rhonda Richford, Footwear News, 7 Aug. 2025

Limit your designer clothing purchases: A shirt with a designer logo can be tens or even hundreds of dollars more than a different shirt of the same quality. —Laura Daniella Sepulveda, AZCentral.com, 7 Aug. 2025

Who doesn’t want PLEASURE ISLAND on their fever dream shirt? NUTMEG! —Matt Gardner, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025

The very first prize was an official reading program shirt and then, in July, participants tie dyed those shirts. —Jesse Wright, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English shirte, from Old English scyrte; akin to Old Norse skyrta shirt, Old English scort short

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing shirt

• aloha shirt
• bloody shirt
• body shirt
• bush shirt
• camp shirt
• dress shirt
• give (someone) the shirt off one's back
• hair shirt
• Hawaiian shirt
• henley shirt
• keep your shirt on
• lose one's shirt
• lumberjack shirt
• muscle shirt
• polo shirt
• put one's shirt on
• ringer T-shirt
• shirt jacket
• sport shirt
• sports shirt
• stuffed shirt
• tee shirt
• T-shirt

Rhymes for shirt

• blurt
• chert
• curt
• dirt
• flirt
• girt
• hurt
• peart
• pert
• skirt
• spurt
• squirt

Kids Definition

shirt

noun

ˈshərt 

1

: a garment for the upper part of the body usually with a collar, sleeves, a front opening, and a tail long enough to be tucked inside pants or a skirt

2

: undershirt