polo shirt

American

noun

a short-sleeved, pullover sport shirt, usually of cotton or cottonlike knit, with a round neckband or a turnover collar.

polo shirt British

noun

a knitted cotton short-sleeved shirt with a collar and three-button opening at the neck

"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

Etymology

Origin of polo shirt

First recorded in 1915–20

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.

I pull a brown polo shirt from an overstuffed rack and press it against me.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

Another secondary school in Derbyshire, Alvaston Moor Academy, is now ditching blazers and ties in favour of a black all-weather jacket and polo shirt from September.

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2026

It took something as simple as a white polo shirt and styled it differently for different generations.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025

Red polo shirt, black pants from Kohl’s, Dashboard Confessional and Weezer echoing from the kitchen while the prep crew scrubbed down the line.

From Salon • May 19, 2025

She had a guy with her—tall, broad-shouldered, wearing matching khaki shorts and a polo shirt.

From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023