blouse meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

blouse

noun

UK /ˈblaʊ̯z/ · US /ˈblaʊ̯s/

Etymology 1828, from French blouse (“a workman's or peasant's smock”), see that for more. More at blee, fold.

Fashion, Lifestyle Obsolete A shirt, typically loose and reaching from the neck to the waist.

Fashion, Lifestyle A shirt for women or girls, particularly a shirt with buttons and often a collar; a dress shirt tailored for women.

She came in now, but to the closet; from it she took a simple skirt and blouse. Picking up her underclothing she departed, obviously to dress somewhere else.1964, Philip K. Dick, “NINE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 112:

Fashion, Government, Lifestyle, Military, Politics, War A loose-fitting uniform jacket.

Bangladesh, India A short garment worn under a sari.

Synonyms: bodice
Derived terms: big girl's blouse, bloused, blouseless, blouselike, blousy, downblouse, girl's blouse, middy blouse, overblouse, peasant blouse, peekaboo blouse, poet blouse, Russian blouse, shirtwaist blouse, underblouse
Hyponyms: Watteau bodice

verb

Etymology 1828, from French blouse (“a workman's or peasant's smock”), see that for more. More at blee, fold.

To hang a garment in loose folds.

Government, Military, Politics, War To tuck one's pants/trousers (into one's boots).

An anonymous black soldier summed up his feelings by declaring, "If I fail to blouse my boots, or [if I] wear an Afro, I get socked. […]"1989, Bernard C. Nalty, Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military, page 311:

The act of hiding contraband, such as drugs or weapons, in one's rectum.