This week’s theme
Shirts & pants

This week’s words
fancy-pants
shirtsleeve
trouser role
brownshirt
seat-of-the-pants

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(SHUHRT-sleev)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Relating to pleasant warm weather.
2. Informal; direct.
3. Hardworking; having a can-do attitude.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the idea of rolling up the sleeves of one’s shirt in warm weather, in an informal setting, or in preparation to get down to work. Could also be from the idea of simply wearing a shirt, without a formal coat. From shirt, from Old English scyrte + sleeve, from Old English sliefe. Earliest documented use: 1567.

USAGE:

“On a shirtsleeves October evening, it was possibly written in the stars.”
Chris Irvine; Grand Finale for Wane; Sunday Times (London, UK); Oct 14, 2018.

“This shirtsleeve diplomacy seems to work.”
The Election: 100% United; The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Apr 8, 2005.

See more usage examples of shirtsleeve in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: