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skirt

(skûrt)

1. The part of a garment, such as a dress or coat, that hangs freely from the waist down.

2. A garment hanging from the waist and worn especially by women and girls.

3. A part or attachment resembling the skirt of a garment, especially:

a. One of the leather flaps hanging from the side of a saddle.

b. The lower outer section of a rocket vehicle.

c. A flexible strip hanging from the base of an air-cushion vehicle.

d. A piece of fabric that extends over or beyond something to afford protection.

e. A spray skirt.

4. An outer edge; a border or margin: a base camp on the skirt of the mountain.

5. Offensive Slang A woman.

v. skirt·ed, skirt·ing, skirts

v.tr.

1. To lie along or form the edge of; border: the creek that skirts our property.

2. To pass around rather than across or through: changed their course to skirt the storm.

3. To pass close to; miss narrowly: The bullet skirted an artery.

4. To evade, as by circumlocution: skirted the controversial issue.

v.intr.

To lie along, move along, or be an edge or a border.

[Middle English, from Old Norse skyrta, shirt; see sker-¹ in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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