Shirley
Americannoun
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James, 1596–1666, English dramatist.
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William, 1694–1771, English governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony 1741–56: urged assault on Louisburg.
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a city on the S shore of Long Island, in SE New York.
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a male or female given name: a family name taken from an Old English placename.
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 mother, Shirley Brandt, 84, had an independent-living apartment, but monthly rent was increasing to $5,000, and she was paying extra for a nurse to put drops in her eyes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Resident Shirley Sanchez has lived in the Bell Mobile Home Park for 33 years and thought this would be her forever home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Spark was much stranger: Waugh thought she was “a saint”—her prayers were so often heard—and the novelist Shirley Hazzard said she had “X-ray eyes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Scotland's social justice secretary, Shirley Anne Somerville, said the Scottish government - along with Highland Council and NHS Highland - repeatedly raised questions around the practical suitability of the site.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
What was wrong with Shirley Temple Wong, as is?
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
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.
