skirt

[skurt]
noun
1.
the part of a gown, dress, slip, or coat that extends downward from the waist.
2.
a one-piece garment extending downward from the waist and not joined between the legs, worn especially by women and girls.
3.
some part resembling or suggesting the skirt of a garment, as the flared lip of a bell or a protective and ornamental cloth strip covering the legs of furniture.
4.
a small leather flap on each side of a saddle, covering the metal bar from which the stirrup hangs. See diag. under saddle.
5.
Building Trades.
a.
baseboard ( def 1 ).
b.
apron ( def 13 ).
6.
Also called apron. Furniture.
a.
a flat horizontal brace set immediately beneath the seat of a chair, chest of drawers, or the like, to strengthen the legs.
b.
Also called bed, frieze. a flat brace or support immediately beneath a tabletop.
7.
Usually, skirts. the bordering, marginal, or outlying part of a place, group, etc.; the outskirts.
8.
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a woman or girl.
9.
Rocketry. an outer part of a rocket or missile that provides structural support or houses such systems as avionics or gyroscopes.
verb (used with object)
10.
to lie on or along the border of: The hills skirt the town.
11.
to border, wrap, or cover with a skirt or something suggesting a skirt in appearance or function.
12.
to pass along or around the border or edge of: Traffic skirts the town.
13.
to avoid, go around the edge of, or keep distant from (something that is controversial, risky, etc.): The senator skirted the issue.
14.
to remove low-grade wool and foreign matter from (the outer edge of fleece).
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to run away hurriedly; flee.
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verb (used without object)
15.
to be or lie on or along the edge of something.
16.
to move along or around the border of something.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English skirte < Old Norse skyrta shirt

Related forms
skirt·less, adjective
skirt·like, adjective
un·skirt·ed, adjective

Synonyms
13. evade, shun, circle, bypass.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
skirt (skɜːt) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  a garment hanging from the waist, worn chiefly by women and girls
2.  the part of a dress below the waist
3.  Also called: apron a frieze or circular flap, as round the base of a hovercraft
4.  the flaps on a saddle that protect a rider's legs
5.  (Brit) a cut of beef from the flank
6.  (often plural) a margin or outlying area
7.  (NZ) the lower part of a sheep's fleece
8.  slang bit of skirt a girl or woman
 
—vb (when intr, foll by around, along, etc)
9.  (tr) to form the edge of
10.  (tr) to provide with a border
11.  to pass (by) or be situated (near) the outer edge of (an area, etc)
12.  (tr) to avoid (a difficulty, etc): he skirted the issue
13.  chiefly (Austral), (NZ) to remove the trimmings or inferior wool from (a fleece)
 
[C13: from Old Norse skyrtashirt]
 
'skirted
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

skirt
c.1300, "lower part of a woman's dress," from O.N. skyrta "shirt," see shirt. Sense development from "shirt" to "skirt" is possibly related to the long shirts of peasant garb (cf. Low Ger. cognate Schört, in some dialects "woman's gown"). Sense of "border, edge" (in outskirts, etc.) first recorded
1470, and the verb meaning "to pass along the edge" is from 1623. Metonymic use for "women collectively" is from 1560; slang sense of "young woman" is from 1906; skirt-chaser first attested 1942.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

skirt definition


  1. n.
    a woman. : Some skirt comes up to me and asks where the police station is.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
Provide a skirt guard pocket arranged to protect the skirt in the down position.
There's a pair of slacks or a skirt with lightweight, wrinkle-resistant tops
  that she can mix and match.
She twists and dips, raising a ruffled skirt to reveal a dainty foot slipped
  into a backless shoe.
The pockets are good sizes, and the skirt it useful for stopping the wind and
  losing heat.
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