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.
Shirley rose to fame in 2025 with shady videos claiming to expose daycare fraud in Minnesota.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office said it would look into such posts, one of which falsely attributed the message to historian Heather Cox Richardson.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
To help bring his vision to life, Riley enlisted costume designer Shirley Kurata, the Oscar-nominated stylist behind the equally surreal "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke will all return, but there's still no news about who will replace Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly as hosts.
From BBC • May 6, 2026
Shirley threw herself on the mattress and lolled about like a fish tossed back to the sea.
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.
