blouse

American  

[blous, blouz] / blaʊs, blaʊz /

noun

1. a usually lightweight, loose-fitting garment for women and children, covering the body from the neck or shoulders more or less to the waistline, with or without a collar and sleeves, worn inside or outside a skirt, slacks, etc.

2. a single-breasted, semifitted military jacket.

3. a loose outer garment, reaching to the hip or thigh, or below the knee, and sometimes belted.

---

verb (used without object)

bloused, blousing

1. to puff out in a drooping fullness, as a blouse above a fitted waistband.

verb (used with object)

bloused, blousing

1. to dispose the material of a garment in loose folds, as trouser legs over the tops of boots.

blouse British  

/ blaʊz /

noun

1. a woman's shirtlike garment made of cotton, nylon, etc

2. a loose-fitting smocklike garment, often knee length and belted, worn esp by E European peasants

3. a loose-fitting waist-length belted jacket worn by soldiers

---

verb

1. to hang or make so as to hang in full loose folds

Other Word Forms

• blouselike adjective
• blousy adjective
• unbloused adjective

Etymology

Origin of blouse

1820–30; < French, perhaps from the phrase *vêtement de laine blouse garment of short (i.e., uncarded, pure) wool; compare Provençal ( lano ) blouso pure (wool) < Old High German blōz naked, cognate with Old English bleat poor, miserable

Example Sentences

In another, Munshi stands defiantly before the entrance of a boycotted British department store, uncowed by a group of British police officers towering over her - and stylishly dressed in a sleeveless sari blouse.

From BBC

Operating these new technologies were an army of young women clad in tailor-mades, or coordinating jackets and skirts, and easy-to-launder cotton shirtwaists, or blouses—all early triumphs of New York’s nascent ready-to-wear industry.

From The Wall Street Journal

Between her sparkling teeth, her blindingly white blouses, and her overall way-too-bright energy, Autumn’s mother is basically sunlight personified.

From Literature

All of the women were neatly dressed in blouses and jackets and skirts.

From Literature

"We had to wear these awful BBC Two blouses," Ms Brown said.

From BBC

Related Words

• bodice
• pullover
• turtleneck