skirt

 
Pronunciation: /skəːt/

noun

  • 1a woman’s outer garment fastened around the waist and hanging down around the legs.
  • the part of a coat or dress that hangs below the waist.
  • 2 [mass noun] informal women regarded as objects of sexual desire: so, Sandro, off to chase some skirt?
  • 3a surface that conceals or protects the wheels or underside of a vehicle or aircraft.
  • the curtain that hangs round the base of a hovercraft to contain the air cushion.
  • 4 [mass noun] an animal’s diaphragm and other membranes as food: bits of beef skirt
  • [count noun] British a cut of meat from the lower flank.
  • 5a small flap on a saddle, covering the bar from which the stirrup leather hangs.

verb

[with object]
  • 1go round or past the edge of: he did not go through the city but skirted it
  • be situated along or around the edge of: the fields that skirted the highway were full of cattle
  • [no object] (skirt along/around) go along or around (something) rather than directly through or across it: the river valley skirts along the northern slopes of the hills
  • 2attempt to ignore; avoid dealing with: they are both skirting the issue [no object]: the treaty skirted around the question of political cooperation

Derivatives

skirted

adjective
[in combination]: a full-skirted dress

Origin:

Middle English: from Old Norse skyrta 'shirt'; compare with synonymous Old English scyrte, also with short. The verb dates from the early 17th century