Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Archaic A man's knee-length tunic or coat.
- n. Archaic A woman's dress or skirt.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In former use, a garment of which the form and purpose varied at different times.
- n. A tunic or undergarment; a shirt.
- n. A close-fitting gown for women, which sometimes was called a long kirtle and had a train.
- n. A garment like a doublet for men.
- n. A cloak.
- n. A monk's gown. Coat and kirtle are mentioned together in the middle of the seventeenth century as forming a woman's costume: as, a tawny camlet coat and kirtle cost £10 17s. In this case kirtle is evidently the petticoat, or the garment worn under the coat. See half-kirtle, aud full kirtle, below.
- n. An outer petticoat.
- n. A coat or layer of plaster.
- To dispose in the manner of a kirtle.
- n. A quantity of flax, about 100 pounds.
Wiktionary
- n. A knee-length tunic.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A garment varying in form and use at different times, and worn both by men and women.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a garment resembling a tunic that was worn by men in the Middle Ages
- n. a long dress worn by women
Etymologies
- Cognate with Old Norse kyrtill ( whence Danish kjortel and Icelandic kyrtill). Compare German Kittel. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English kirtel, from Old English cyrtel, probably ultimately from Latin curtus, short; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A message for Jane Boleyn, the Viscountess Rochford?" he will ask, looking at my plain kirtle and the dust on the hem of my gown, my hand stained with dirt from the London milestone. next »”
“[356-8] The kirtle was a dress-skirt or outer petticoat.”
“Around his waist was a kind of kirtle, the skin of some animal.”
“Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands" includes over 50 illuminated medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, as well as printed books, and will tell you what a gipser and kirtle were.”
“He made short work of her kirtle, baring her body to his greedy gaze.”
“She removed her swords and cloak, revealing her strange garments—an armored vest of stiffened leather over a fine linen blouse and a kirtle so short that her thighs were visible above her high boots.”
“She shrugged from it, then stepped from her kirtle, leaving her garbed in only her blouse.”
“Before that, any colour would do and a wedding was a good excuse to get yourself a new kirtle.”
“Her nails bit into my skin, even through the thickness of gown and kirtle.”
“The gown Mags had found for her was more of a kirtle.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kirtle’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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phrontistery - k
from phrontistery.info
kyrielle, kyrie, kyphosis, kyriolexy, kymograph, kyloe, kyllosis, kylin, kvass, kurtosis, kyphorrhinos, ktenology and 189 more...
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Historical Costume Box
This is just sort of my "unsorted pit" of costumes to be organized later. It's a really broad topic, so right now, anything goes! Thanks for the contributions!
baldric, bliaut, coif, cote-hardie, farthingale, houppelande, partlet, tabard, kirtle, wimple, buskin, greatcoat and 33 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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cutting words
sarcasm, sarx, sarcoptic, syssarcosis, shrew, shrewd, screed, scred, shroud, scroll, scrod, scrutiny and 326 more...
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Baby, It's Cold Outside!
Do as your mom says and put on a jacket.
frock coat, doublet, reefer, cutaway, morning coat, tailcoat, dinner jacket, smoking jacket, juste-au-corps, jerkin, basque, spencer and 134 more...
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Below the Belt
Anything worn from the waist down.
chausses, pantaloons, britches, trossers, buckskins, chaps, galligaskins, gregs, gaskins, breeches, knee breeches, knee pants and 93 more...
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Words of the Dying Earth
Tales of the Dying Earth is a 2002 anthology volume featuring four novels by Jack Vance: The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga and Rhialto the Marvellous.
Throughou...deodar, deodand, pelgrane, leucomorph, blister-bush, russet, black burdock, gunmetal, spatterlight, carrack, concertina, terce and 280 more...
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Awesome
Awesome words
mimsy, concupiscence, tumescent, ophidian, houri, vorpal, cyprian, Delphic, incipient, effete, existential, loam and 289 more...
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Luck in the Shadows
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Luck in the Shadows.
belly, barbican, pediment, withers, hirsute, oriel, tabard, telesm, thaumaturgy, switch, spargetaction, towheaded and 125 more...
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Dresses!
maxi, mini, gown, A-line, sheath, cocktail, jumper, sundress, strapless, mermaid, little black dress, shift and 35 more...
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sartorial splendor
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
-Mark Twainapplique, ascot, brogue, dressing gown, frippery, gusset, grommet, placket, silhouette, whipstitch, appliqué, baste and 59 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, K
kirtle, knapsack, knobbly, kern, kaddish, knight, kaleidoscope, kindling, knell, knoll, kneecap, kindred and 50 more...
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Words I learned whilst slogging throu...
Ivanhoe is a book by Sir Walter Scott. It was written in 1819, is set in 12th-century England, and is an example of historical fiction.
murrain, voluptuary, conventual, jennet, palfrey, mitre, obdurate, banderole, baldric, fetlock, panoply, obeisance and 48 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (K)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
katydid, keen, kid gloves, killdeer, kiln, kilt, kindle, kingfisher, kirtle, kite, knight, knoll and 16 more...
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Old English Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
quell, bower, keen, alderman, cleanser, sallow, gristle, nestle, abide, gospel, nether, farthing and 84 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kirtle.
sionnach I'm trying to come up with a less promising title than "Squirrels Have Bright Eyes". Not that easy to do. "All Bunnies Go to Heaven", maybe. Jan 27, 2008
rolig "But, as a matter of fact, clothes suffocated her. Supremely Nordic, she ranged her vast apartment clad only in a sort of kirtle."
– John Collier, "Squirrels Have Bright Eyes", Fancies and Goodnights Jan 27, 2008