shirty

[ shur-tee ]

/ ˈʃɜr ti /

Chiefly British Informal.

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adjective, shirt·i·er, shirt·i·est.

bad-tempered; irritable; cranky.

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Origin of shirty

First recorded in 1840–50; shirt, in the phrase get someone's shirt out “to annoy” + -y¹

OTHER WORDS FROM shirty

shirt·i·ness, noun

Words nearby shirty

shirtmaker, shirt-sleeve, shirttail, shirtwaist, shirtwaister, shirty, shisha, shish kebab, shishya, shiso, shit

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

How to use shirty in a sentence

Of course, if she had been plain, he reflected gravely, one could understand her being so shirty.
Happy House|Betsey Riddle, Freifrau von Hutten zum Stolzenberg
It is most welcome, as the pater only sent ten bob, being shirty about my report; and the mater another.
The Lighter Side of School Life|Ian Hay
I called out loudly and angrily, 'Shirty, don't shoot him in the back!'
Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories|Florence Finch Kelly
Shirty was n't there, but I had him covered when he turned back, red hot at having been deceived.
Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories|Florence Finch Kelly

That's really how it was when I saw you going off with that creature; but of course I was an ass to get shirty about it.
The Hall and the Grange|Archibald Marshall

British Dictionary definitions for shirty

shirty

/ (ˈʃɜːtɪ) /

adjective shirtier or shirtiest

slang, mainly British bad-tempered or annoyed

Derived forms of shirty

shirtily, adverbshirtiness, noun

Word Origin for shirty

C19: perhaps based on such phrases as to get someone's shirt out to annoy someone

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