Library / English Dictionary

SKIRT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A garment hanging from the waist; worn mainly by girls and women

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("skirt" is a kind of...):

garment (an article of clothing)

Meronyms (parts of "skirt"):

kick pleat (pleat in back of a straight skirt to allow ease in walking)

box pleat (a flat double pleat made by folding under the fabric on either side of it)

placket (a piece of cloth sewn under an opening)

slide fastener; zip; zip fastener; zipper (a fastener for locking together two toothed edges by means of a sliding tab)

sunburst pleat; sunray pleat (knife pleat cut on the bias to produce a flared effect)

hemline (the line formed by the lower edge of a skirt or coat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "skirt"):

sarong (a loose skirt consisting of brightly colored fabric wrapped around the body; worn by both women and men in the South Pacific)

overskirt (an outer skirt worn over another skirt)

mini; miniskirt (a very short skirt)

maxi (a long skirt ending below the calf)

lavalava (a skirt consisting of a rectangle of calico or printed cotton; worn by Polynesians (especially Samoans))

kilt (a knee-length pleated tartan skirt worn by men as part of the traditional dress in the Highlands of northern Scotland)

crinoline; hoopskirt (a skirt stiffened with hoops)

hobble skirt (a long skirt very narrow below the knees, worn between 1910 and 1914)

grass skirt (a skirt made of long blades of grass)

gathered skirt (a skirt whose fabric is drawn together around the waist)

full skirt (a long skirt gathered at the waist)

culotte (a divided skirt)

ballet skirt; tutu (very short skirt worn by ballerinas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cloth covering that forms the part of a garment below the waist

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("skirt" is a kind of...):

cloth covering (a covering made of cloth)

Meronyms (parts of "skirt"):

lap; lap covering (the part of a piece of clothing that covers the thighs)

seat (the cloth covering for the buttocks)

Holonyms ("skirt" is a part of...):

garment (an article of clothing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Informal terms for a (young) woman

Synonyms:

bird; chick; dame; doll; skirt; wench

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("skirt" is a kind of...):

fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman (a young female)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(Fungi) a remnant of the partial veil that in mature mushrooms surrounds the stem like a collar

Synonyms:

annulus; skirt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("skirt" is a kind of...):

plant part; plant structure (any part of a plant or fungus)

Domain category:

Fungi; fungus kingdom; kingdom Fungi (the taxonomic kingdom including yeast, molds, smuts, mushrooms, and toadstools; distinct from the green plants)

Holonyms ("skirt" is a part of...):

partial veil (membrane of the young sporophore of various mushrooms extending from the margin of the cap to the stem and is ruptured by growth; represented in mature mushroom by an annulus around the stem and sometimes a cortina on the margin of the cap)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

Synonyms:

circumvent; dodge; duck; elude; evade; fudge; hedge; parry; put off; sidestep; skirt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "skirt" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "skirt"):

beg (dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted)

quibble (evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle

Example:

The forest surrounds my property

Synonyms:

border; environ; ring; skirt; surround

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "skirt" is one way to...):

adjoin; contact; meet; touch (be in direct physical contact with; make contact)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "skirt"):

fringe (decorate with or as if with a surrounding fringe)

gird; girdle (put a girdle on or around)

cloister (surround with a cloister)

close in; enclose; inclose; shut in (surround completely)

hem in (surround in a restrictive manner)

cloister (surround with a cloister, as of a garden)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pass around or about; move along the border

Example:

The boat skirted the coast

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "skirt" is one way to...):

go by; go past; pass; pass by; surpass; travel by (move past)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Form the edge of

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "skirt" is one way to...):

border; bound (form the boundary of; be contiguous to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malone! Don't make a public ass of yourself."

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were the two wings of the building; there was the garden; there were the skirts of Lowood; there was the hilly horizon.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But now, alas, how welcome would have been the feel of their presence, the frou-frou and swish-swish of their skirts which I had so cordially detested!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I already knew that the papers were probably in the room, but I had no desire to rip up all the planking and skirting in search of them.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,” said Holmes, with a smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam of the front door.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The rooms were shut up, the lodgers almost all gone, scarcely any family but of the residents left; and, as there is nothing to admire in the buildings themselves, the remarkable situation of the town, the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which, in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company; the Cobb itself, its old wonders and new improvements, with the very beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the east of the town, are what the stranger's eye will seek; and a very strange stranger it must be, who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I stepped over the great western gate, and passed very gently, and sidling, through the two principal streets, only in my short waistcoat, for fear of damaging the roofs and eaves of the houses with the skirts of my coat.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Very glad to see you back, Tregellis, but you must really be more careful what you bring in upon your skirts.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Two or three times, by the way, I thought I observed in the indistinct light the skirts of a female figure going up before us.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)