Kirtle

//ˈkəːt(ə)l// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A knee-length tunic.

    "All in a kirtle of diſcolourd ſay / He clothed was, ypaynted full of eies; / And in his boſome ſecretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall ſting implyes."

  2. 2
    a long dress worn by women wordnet
  3. 3
    A short jacket.

    "KIRTLE, […] a Sort of ſhort Jacket."

  4. 4
    a garment resembling a tunic that was worn by men in the Middle Ages wordnet
  5. 5
    A woman's gown; a woman's outer petticoat or skirt.

    "Per[igot] VVell decked in a frocke of gray, / Wil[ly] hey ho, gray is greet, / Per. And in a kirtle of green ſay, / [Wil.] the greene is for maydens meet."

Verb
  1. 1
    To clothe or cover with, or as if with, a kirtle; to hitch up (a long garment) to the length of a kirtle. transitive

    "Eastward the Night / Climbs slow with hooded brows, and languid Day / Kirtles her robe fantastical, and leans / To take the embrace of darkness."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English kirtel, from Old English cyrtel, cognate with Old Norse kyrtill (“tunic”) (whence Icelandic kyrtill, Danish kjortel (“gown, tunic”), Swedish kjortel (“petticoat, skirt”)), from Old Norse *kurtil-, supposedly a diminutive of *kurt-, from Latin curtus (“short, shortened”). Compare German Kittel.

Etymology 2

From Middle English kirtel, from Old English cyrtel, cognate with Old Norse kyrtill (“tunic”) (whence Icelandic kyrtill, Danish kjortel (“gown, tunic”), Swedish kjortel (“petticoat, skirt”)), from Old Norse *kurtil-, supposedly a diminutive of *kurt-, from Latin curtus (“short, shortened”). Compare German Kittel.

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