chemise

[shuh-meez]

See more synonyms for chemise on Thesaurus.com

noun

a woman's loose-fitting, shirtlike undergarment.
(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.
a revetment for an earth embankment.

Origin of chemise

before 1050; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French: shirt < Late Latin camīsa linen undergarment, shirt; replacing Middle English kemes, Old English cemes < Late Latin camīsa

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for chemise

shirt, shift, lingerie, dress, smock, camisole, chemisette

Examples from the Web for chemise

Historical Examples of chemise

So long as she was not beneath it, she would have gone off willingly without a chemise to her back.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
That chemise was not hers, she would have nothing to do with it.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
Whether she was in her chemise or in full dress did not matter.
Nana, The Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille
Emile Zola
I saw Leah enter my room in her chemise and a light petticoat.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
She wanted to make a chemise to replace the only one which she possessed.
Nobody's Girl
Hector Malot

British Dictionary definitions for chemise

chemise

noun

an unwaisted loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders
a loose shirtlike undergarment

Also called: shift

Word Origin for chemise

C14: from Old French: shirt, from Late Latin camisa, perhaps of Celtic origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chemise

late Old English, cemes "shirt," from Old French chemise "shirt, undertunic, shift," or directly from Late Latin camisia "shirt, tunic" (Jerome; also source of Italian camicia, Spanish camisa); originally a soldier's word, probably via Gaulish, from Proto-Germanic *khamithjan (cf. Old Frisian hemethe, Old Saxon hemithi, Old English hemeðe, German hemd "shirt"), from PIE root *kem- "to cover, cloak" (cf. heaven). The French form took over after c.1200. Related: Chemisette.