Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A shirt is a garment for the trunk of the body, a top. The word means different things on the two sides of the Atlantic: in the United Kingdom it refers almost exclusively to what Americans call a dress shirt, a garment with a collar and a full vertical opening fastened with buttons, while in the United States it is applied more loosely to many types of tops, mainly men's, leaving top as the general word for women's equivalents. The blouse is the women's counterpart term, also used for some men's military uniform shirts. Shirts carrying printed or embroidered messages and advertising became common in the late 20th century.
A shirt is a sort of top, i.e. a piece of clothing for the trunk of the body.
In the UK, it refers almost exclusively to what Americans call a dress shirt, i.e. a garment with a collar and a full vertical opening with buttons. In the US is tends to have a vaguer meaning, being applied to many types of (mainly men's) tops, leaving the word "top" generally for ladieswear.
Some common types or synonyms of shirts and tops:
polo shirt
a shirt with collar but only a partial vertical opening
with buttons
shirt or
dress shirt
a shirt with collar and full vertical opening with buttons
tank top
a sleeveless T-shirt
wife beater
a tank top worn as an outer layer
blouse
ladies shirt
the term is also used for some men's military uniform
shirts.
nightshirt
for
sleeping
sweater, sweatshirt
with or without
hood
rugby shirt
typically a rugged long-sleeved polo shirt
Hawaiian shirt
a colorful short-sleeve dress shirt
guayabera
an embroidered dress shirt with four pockets
golf shirt
a polo shirt
baseball shirt
usually distinguished by a three quarters sleeve
fishnet shirt, transparent, see e.g.
first shirt
the "shirt" is a nick-name for a
First Sergeant
Tops which would generally not be called shirts:
Other tops which are not generally referred to as shirts include vests, sweaters, jackets and coats.
Many terms are used to describe and differentiate types of shirts and their construction. The smallest differences may have significance to a cultural or occupational group.
Recently, (late 20th century) it has become common to use tops to carry messages or advertising. These can be screen printed or embroidered.
For such clothing, including vests, sweaters, jacket, etc. one can disinguish:
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Some combinations are not applicable, of course, e.g. a tube top cannot have a collar.
See also:
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/shirt). 11/10/04 |
The common types cover most of the wardrobe. The T-shirt is the plain knitted pull-on shirt. The polo shirt adds a collar and a short buttoned placket. The dress shirt is the full formal form, collar and complete button front. The tank top is a sleeveless T-shirt form, the nightshirt is a long loose shirt for sleeping, and the rugby shirt is a rugged long-sleeved polo shirt built for sport. Regional and occupational types fill out the family: the colourful short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt, the embroidered four-pocket guayabera, the golf shirt, which is a polo shirt by another name, and the baseball shirt, distinguished by its three-quarter sleeves.
The classification features matter because they are how the trade describes a shirt precisely. Two shirts with the same name can differ in cuff, collar and pocketing, and those small differences are exactly what a cultural or occupational group notices: a button-down collar reads differently from a plain collar, cufflink cuffs belong to formal dress, and a shirt cut to cover part of the legs crosses the line into a dress, since a garment is perceived as a shirt when worn with trousers and as a dress when it forms the whole outfit.
In British usage, shirt on its own means the formal garment: a collar, a full vertical button opening, and usually long sleeves with cuffs. American usage is broader, covering T-shirts, polo shirts and other tops, so the formal garment is specified as a dress shirt. A polo shirt has a collar but only a partial button opening, which is what separates it from a dress shirt.
By several independent features: sleeve coverage, from sleeveless to long sleeves with cuffs fastened by buttons or cufflinks; lower edge, from cropped to waist length to dress length; opening, full-length buttoned or zipped, pull-on over the head, or a partial placket; neck, with a collar, a polo neck, or collarless; and the number, placement and closure of pockets, plus the presence or absence of a hood.
Tube tops and halter tops are tops but not generally called shirts, and vests, sweaters, jackets and coats form their own categories even though they cover the same part of the body. A sweatshirt keeps the shirt name despite being a heavier knitted garment.