hoop skirt
Americannoun
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a woman's skirt made to stand out and drape in a stiff bell-like shape from the waist by an undergarment framework of flexible hoops connected by tapes.
-
the framework for such a skirt.
Etymology
Origin of hoop skirt
An Americanism dating back to 1855–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her latest role as Mary Todd Lincoln in “Oh, Mary!” presented a different challenge: screaming and running across a stage in a hoop skirt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
Take his costume for 1856-1866: a shredded military jacket on top of a skeletal hoop skirt made from barbed wire and strings of … sausage?
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2022
She scoured the Internet for dresses that suggested the Regency era, spending about $200 on a bright blue ballgown reminiscent of Cinderella’s in the Disney animated movie and a hoop skirt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
She wore a long-sleeved wedding dress with a hoop skirt that she bought from the still-operational Aliber’s Bridal in Greenfield, Massachusetts, according to Livingwater.
From Fox News ● Nov. 30, 2021
On class picture day I chose my fanciest dress with a hoop skirt.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
