kirtle
Americannoun
-
a woman's loose gown, worn in the Middle Ages.
-
Obsolete. a man's tunic.
noun
-
a woman's skirt or dress
-
a man's coat
Other Word Forms
- kirtled adjective
Etymology
Origin of kirtle
before 900; Middle English kirtel, Old English cyrtel, apparently equivalent to cyrt ( an ) to shorten (≪ Latin curtus shortened) + -el -le
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.
"When you knew me last," said the woman in the scarlet kirtle, "I ruled with my sisters in Carnadine, before it was lost."
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
The harridan screwed her eyes to slits and looked the lady in the red kirtle up and down.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
The lady in the scarlet kirtle stood up then and placed the bowl which had contained her portion of hare into the fire.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
Dressed in a brown, grease-spotted kirtle, she had a lopsided white linen cap upon her dark and gray-streaked tresses.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
Clad in a cloud-gray kirtle and a hood as blue as the sky.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
