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

shirtlessness noun

shirtlike

ˈshərt-ˌlīk 

adjective

Examples of shirt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While the suit itself was a departure from her standard jeand and T-shirt fare, Lawrence found a way to make even a business suit work with her undone, bohemain style. — Vogue, 11 Nov. 2026

View gallery - 10 images As a light sleeper who has been known to have a pillow or black shirt over my head in bed, while listening to a podcast or audiobook to drift off and stay that way, the Sleenova SleepMask has been a surprising game-changer. — New Atlas, 10 Nov. 2026

There were gig posters for Minor Threat, rare photographs of Iggy Pop, movie posters that inspired the Misfits, given to him by Glenn Danzig, and the Häagen-Dazs shirt that Rollins himself wore at his last straight job slinging ice cream. — Daniel Kohn, Rolling Stone, 10 Nov. 2026

After returning home from serving 13 months during the Vietnam War, Jim Chancellor said some semblance of his life before serving returned, like seeing family and friends and wearing jeans and a t-shirt. — Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 10 Nov. 2026

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