blouse
Americannoun
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a usually lightweight, loose-fitting garment for women and children, covering the body from the neck or shoulders more or less to the waistline, with or without a collar and sleeves, worn inside or outside a skirt, slacks, etc.
-
a single-breasted, semifitted military jacket.
-
a loose outer garment, reaching to the hip or thigh, or below the knee, and sometimes belted.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a woman's shirtlike garment made of cotton, nylon, etc
-
a loose-fitting smocklike garment, often knee length and belted, worn esp by E European peasants
-
a loose-fitting waist-length belted jacket worn by soldiers
verb
Other Word Forms
- blouselike adjective
- blousy adjective
- unbloused adjective
Etymology
Origin of blouse
1820–30; < French, perhaps from the phrase *vêtement de laine blouse garment of short (i.e., uncarded, pure) wool; compare Provençal ( lano ) blouso pure (wool) < Old High German blōz naked, cognate with Old English bleat poor, miserable
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He complimented her on her blue pleated skirt and white blouse.
I tried to stay calm and told her to use her blouse to wipe off the blood.
From Los Angeles Times
First is Aunt Melissa, who changes into khakis and pins a plastic name tag to her blouse.
From Literature
Her blouse was a crisp cream color, tucked into smart red trousers.
From Literature
Wode Maya declared that it was not a ''blouse'', and that ''the president is intentionally promoting the local garment industry both within and beyond our borders''.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
