shirt-sleeve

or shirt·sleeve, shirt-sleeved, shirt-sleeves

[ shurt-sleev ]

/ ˈʃɜrtˌsliv /

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adjective

not wearing a jacket; informally dressed: a shirt-sleeve mob.

warm enough to live or work in without wearing a jacket or coat: shirt-sleeve weather in November.

simple, plain, and informal; direct and straightforward in approach, manner, etc.: shirt-sleeve diplomacy.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of shirt-sleeve

First recorded in 1560–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use shirt-sleeve in a sentence

Beard obliged by tearing off a piece of his tattered shirtsleeve and jotting down the ingredients.
My Dinners With James Beard|John Ferrone|November 3, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder.
A Story of the Red Cross|Clara Barton
She laid one hand on his skinny forearm below the rolled-back shirtsleeve.
The Lone Ranger Rides|Fran Striker
The man wiped the tears from his eyes with his shirtsleeve, smearing the red brick dust with which it was powdered, over his face.
The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him|Paul Leicester Ford

Miss Eyester flipped a bit of plaster from his shirtsleeve with her thumb and finger.
The Dude Wrangler|Caroline Lockhart
Own wife, the coat does not crock the shirtsleeve in the least—so thy labor in lining it would have been thrown away.
Love Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Volume 2 of 2|Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for shirt-sleeve

shirtsleeve

/ (ˈʃɜːtˌsliːv) /

noun

the sleeve of a shirt

in one's shirtsleeves not wearing a jacket

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