blouse
[ blous, blouz ]
/ blaʊs, blaʊz /
noun
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.
Compare smock frock.
verb (used without object), bloused, blous·ing.
to puff out in a drooping fullness, as a blouse above a fitted waistband.
verb (used with object), bloused, blous·ing.
to dispose the material of a garment in loose folds, as trouser legs over the tops of boots.
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
OTHER WORDS FROM blouse
blouse·like, adjective blous·y, adjective un·bloused, adjectiveWords nearby blouse
blotchy,
blotter,
blotting paper,
blotto,
blount's disease,
blouse,
blouson,
blousy,
bloviate,
blow,
blow a fuse
British Dictionary definitions for blousing
blouse
/ (blaʊz) /
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
to hang or make so as to hang in full loose folds
Word Origin for blouse
C19: from French, of unknown origin