Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sleeve worn under another.
  • noun An ornamental sleeve worn under another sleeve, designed to extend below or show through slashes in the outer sleeve.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sleeve worn under another; specifically, a separate sleeve of thin cambric or lace worn under the sleeve of a woman's gown.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A sleeve of an under-garment; a sleeve worn under another

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a sleeve, worn underneath another, and visible through slashes or near the hand

Etymologies

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Examples

  • "See that pupils 'arms are free of heavy clothing," Palmer advised teachers, adding that "many good writers consider this of such importance that they cut off the right undersleeve at the elbow."

    Handwriting Is on the Wall 2009

  • The tunics, square-necked, worn over white shirts with high collars, came to mid-thigh and were double-sleeved, the undersleeve, tight to the arm, of the same leaf-green as the hose, the oversleeve wide and trailing with dagged hems.

    This Scepter'd Isle Lackey, Mercedes 2004

  • The robe had long batwing sleeves; they fell back as she gestured, revealing a tight undersleeve as brightly gold as if it were made of the liquid metal itself.

    The Warslayer Edghill, Rosemary 2002

  • It expressed its kind tremors in the fashion which belonged to the puce silk dress and fine bits of collar and undersleeve the belated gracefulness of which caused her to present herself to him rather as a figure cut neatly from a book of the styles he had admired in his young manhood.

    T. Tembarom 1913

  • Her muslin sleeve was turned up to her shoulder, to be out of the way, and the flesh, soft and snowy, swelled out from the richly worked undersleeve, and almost imperceptibly tapered to the elbow, with here and there a tiny thread of blue, winding its way under the transparent skin.

    Sea-Gift. A Novel. Edwin Wiley 1873

  • A linked band of gold, partly hidden by the lace undersleeve, clasped one of her wrists.

    After a Shadow and Other Stories 1847

  • Then for sleeves: at one time they were wide and long and cumbrous, forbidding every trace of the most rounded member beneath; then they took the form of antique drapery, disclosing the arm almost nude, save for the transparent lace of the undersleeve, -- then the close, tight fit of the Quaker left all but a distorted outline to the imagination.

    Fairy Fingers A Novel Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie 1844

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