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chemise

 - 4 dictionary results

che⋅mise

[shuh-meez]
–noun
1. a woman's loose-fitting, shirtlike undergarment.
2. (in women's fashions) a dress designed to hang straight from the shoulders and fit loosely at the waist, sometimes more tightly at the hip.
3. a revetment for an earth embankment.

Origin:
bef. 1050; ME < AF, OF: shirt < LL camīsa linen undergarment, shirt; r. ME kemes, OE cemes < LL camīsa
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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che·mise   (shə-mēz')   
n.  
  1. A woman's loose, shirtlike undergarment.

  2. A loosely fitting dress that hangs straight; a shift.


[Middle English, from Old French, shirt, from Late Latin camisia, from Late Greek kamision, probably of Semitic origin; see qmṣ in Semitic roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

chemise 
c.1050, cemes, from O.Fr., from L.L. camisia "shirt, tunic" (c.400 C.E.), first used as a soldier's word, probably via Gaulish, from P.Gmc. *khamithjan (cf. Ger. hemd "shirt"), from PIE base *kem- "to cover, cloak." The Fr. form took over after c.1200.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

chemise

loose, shirtlike garment worn by women in the European Middle Ages under their gowns (also called a chemise). The smock later became a loose, yoked, shirtlike outer garment of coarse linen, used to protect the clothes; it was worn, for example, by fieldworkers in Europe.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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