Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That part of a shirt which is allowed to show more or less in front; the part which covers the breast, and is often composed of finer material or ornamented in some way, as by ruffles or lace, or by being plaited, or simply starched stiffly. Ornamental buttons, or studs, or breastpins are often worn in connection with it.
  • noun A dicky.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • His shirt-front was covered with drool and his jeans—the kind that snapped between the legs—had spots of saliva on them also.

    A Light at Winter’s End Julia London 2011

  • His shirt-front was covered with drool and his jeans—the kind that snapped between the legs—had spots of saliva on them also.

    A Light at Winter’s End Julia London 2011

  • His shirt-front was covered with drool and his jeans—the kind that snapped between the legs—had spots of saliva on them also.

    A Light at Winter’s End Julia London 2011

  • My neighbor laughed, but his laughter only irritated me still more against him, and my eyes went to Yeats, who sat, his head drooping on his shirt-front, like a crane, uncertain whether he should fold himself up for the night, and I wondered what was the beautiful eloquence that was germinating in his mind.

    Archive 2008-03-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • My neighbor laughed, but his laughter only irritated me still more against him, and my eyes went to Yeats, who sat, his head drooping on his shirt-front, like a crane, uncertain whether he should fold himself up for the night, and I wondered what was the beautiful eloquence that was germinating in his mind.

    Sean nós Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • His shirt-front and cuffs were white frosting, and the buttons on his coat were licorice drops.

    Love Letters 2010

  • His lank white hair flowed over his shoulders, and his neckcloth and shirt-front were smeared with blood.

    The Englishwoman in America 2007

  • Blunt had unbuttoned his shabby jacket, exposing a lot of starched shirt-front with the white tie under his dark shaved chin.

    The Arrow of Gold 2006

  • He wears a low cravat; a shirt-front of the finest lawn, with ruby buttons.

    The Newcomes 2006

  • ‘I am afraid,’ said a gentleman who was suffering from a bad shirt-front, ‘that an estimate which depends upon feeling in that way is not to be trusted as permanent opinion.’

    The Hand of Ethelberta 2006

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