skirt

plural skirts

1. countableuncountableA separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.

   "I like purple best," said Maida. "And old Schlegel has promised to make it for $8. It's going to be lovely. I'm going to have a plaited skirt and a blouse coat trimmed with a band of galloon under a white cloth collar with two rows of—"

   c. 1907, O. Henry, The Purple Dress

2. countableuncountableA similar part of a dress or robe, etc., that hangs below the waist.

   The petticoats and skirts ordinarily worn are decidedly the heaviest part of the dress ; hence it is necessary that some reform should be effected in these.

   1885, Ada S. Ballin, chapter XI, in The Science of Dress in Theory and Practice

   2 more examples

   “It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!” Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.

   1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League

   I had sprung to my feet. I was speaking, and yet I had prepared no words. 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."

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

3. countableuncountableA loose edging to any part of a dress.

   A narrow lace, or a small skirt of fine ruffled linen, which runs along the upper part of the stays before, and crosses the breast, being a part of the tucker, is called the modesty piece.

   July 27, 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian no. 118

4. countableuncountableA petticoat.
5. countablederogatoryslanguncountableA woman.

   But I tell ya, I can't help but like a guy who wants to rescue some skirt he fell for.

   2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport

   1 more example

   "Mate," said the Cockney, after we'd finished about half the bottle, "it comes to me that we're a couple o' blightin' idjits to be workin' for a skirt." "What d'ya mean?" I asked, taking a pull at the bottle. "Well, 'ere's us, two red-blooded 'e-men, takin' orders from a lousy little frail, 'andin' the swag h'over to 'er, and takin' wot she warnts to 'and us, w'en we could 'ave the 'ole lot. Take this job 'ere now--"

   1931, Robert E. Howard, Alleys of Peril

6. UKcolloquialuncountableWomen collectively, in a sexual context.
7. UKcolloquialuncountableSexual intercourse with a woman.
8. countableuncountableA border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything.

   here in the skirts of the forest, like fringe upon a petticoat.

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   2 more examples

   I am a shadow now, alas! alas! / Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling / Alone: [...]

   1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXIX, page 68

   That each, who seems a separate whole, ⁠Should move his rounds, and fusing all ⁠The skirts of self again, should fall Remerging in the general Soul, Is faith as vague as all unsweet: […]

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 69

9. countableuncountableA diaphragm, or midriff.

present singular third person skirts · participle present skirting · participle past skirted · past skirted

1. To be on or form the border of.

   The plain was skirted by rows of trees.

   2 more examples

   The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.

   1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv

   The railway, which is single track throughout, skirts the left bank of the estuary of the River Colne, and was washed out over a length of about three miles.

   1953 December, “Brightlingsea trains to be Restored”, in Railway Magazine, page 793

2. To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of.

   skirt a mountain

   5 more examples

   An enormous man and woman (it was early-closing day) were stretched motionless, with their heads on pocket-handkerchiefs, side by side, within a few feet of the sea, while two or three gulls gracefully skirted the incoming waves, and settled near their boots.

   1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC

   As we skirted the shores of the Dornoch Firth, between Tain and Bonar Bridge, the views across the water to the Sutherland mountains were particularly fine in the early morning sunshine.

   1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 6

   After Nanhsi, head into the hills again as you skirt Tsengwen Reservoir on a roller coaster of steep grades.

   1994, Roger Grigsby, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China's East Coast (China by Bike), The Mountaineers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 108

   A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. […] This would also let high-speed trains skirt cities as moving platforms ferry passengers to and from the city centre.

   2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)

   I'd forgotten how scenic parts of the line are - the railway crosses a host of streams while meandering through meadows or skirting woodland.

   2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in Rail, page 51

3. To cover with a skirt; to surround.

   skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold

   1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

4. figurativelyTo avoid or ignore (something); to manage to avoid (something or a problem); to skate by (something).

   skirt the law

   4 more examples

   Near-synonym: circumvent

   skirt the issue

   He skirted the issue of which parties to attend by staying at home instead.

   To be clear: I’m not saying Katyal helped a large corporation skirt child slavery laws, I’m just saying that he is the sort of guy who is a typical Burning Man attendee these days: the establishment in a goofy hat.

   2023 September 5, Arwa Mahdawi, “Why all the Burning Man schadenfreude? Where do I start ...”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: circumvent