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

At Lord’s, Renshaw’s dad watched on and had the sense to remove his Australia jumper to reveal an England shirt after Alex Carey controversially ran out Jonny Bairstow. —Sam Dalling, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025

Entry fees vary and include a goody bag, souvenir shirt and finisher medal. —Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2025

Kidman, sporting new bangs, wore an oversized white button-down shirt over baggy jeans. —Kimi Robinson, USA Today, 7 Oct. 2025

The trend has become commonly associated with Phoebe Philo in recent months, with celebrities, including Hathaway, wearing different T-shirt trains from the brand in public. —Renan Botelho, Footwear News, 6 Oct. 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