hoop skirt
Americannoun
-
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.
The theatrical Mary may be good for laughs, but other than the hoop skirt and pipe curls, she bears no resemblance to the real Mary, whose life was crowded with tragedy, misfortune and misinterpretation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
“I’m wearing a hoop skirt, so I can’t do that much. Sitting down was a nightmare.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
Livingwater also got a hoop skirt to go under the dress, just like Cooke wore her dress 50 years before, which helped show off the detailing and bows on the ballgown.
From Fox News ● Nov. 30, 2021
She once cobbled together a hoop skirt for one of our daughters out of wire hangers and a floral bedsheet.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 3, 2021
I’d forgotten just how good she was at hand-to-hand combat when she didn’t have a hoop skirt in her way.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
