blouse
/ˈblaʊz
/noun
1A woman’s upper garment resembling a shirt, typically with a collar, buttons, and sleeves.I then unbuttoned my sleeve buttons to the blouse and let that drop to the floor....
- Christine undid the top three buttons of her blouse, pulling her collar back to reveal the nape of her neck, and looked at Bill expectantly.
- In the context of an interview with mainstream corporate America, it's best to cover your tattoos and piercings with long-sleeved shirts, blouses, collars, and such.
1.1A loose linen or cotton garment formerly worn by peasants and manual workers, typically belted at the waist.A short black skirt and white peasant blouse with loose, belled sleeves and low neckline soon followed....
- She favors nice but functional clothing in browns and creams - usually long skirts, peasant blouses and a bodice with a belt that holds several pouches.
- It was no longer the cotton skirt and peasant blouse she had been wearing.
1.2A type of jacket worn as part of military uniform.The comparatively new uniform features jacket and blouse, and a trilby-style hat....
- Their uniform included a huge floppy beret, a short blouse, and putties.
- Holly just smirked and slashed the blouse of the soldier's uniform and laughed.
verb [with object and adverbial]
Make (a garment) hang in loose folds: I bloused my trousers over my boots...
- If it's really hot they can go around without blousing their boots.
- Only a little more blousing of the shirt above the waistband is required to complete the concealment.
Phrases
big girl's blouse
Origin
Early 19th century (denoting a belted loose garment worn by peasants): from French, of unknown origin.
Women did not originally wear blouses. When it first appeared in English the word referred to the blue blouse traditionally worn by French workmen, although where the French got the word from is not known. In the course of the 19th century the word began to apply to various smocks and tunics worn by English farm labourers, and in 1870 came the first reference to a blouse ‘for a young lady’. Testimony to the fact that it is now fundamentally a female garment comes in a big girl's blouse. In Britain this is an insult for a man regarded as weak, cowardly, or oversensitive.