kirtle

Meanings

1. A knee-length tunic.
2. A short jacket.
3. A woman's gown; a woman's outer petticoat or skirt.

1. To clothe or cover with, or as if with, a kirtle; to hitch up (a long garment) to the length of a kirtle.

Etymology

From Middle English kirtel, from Old English cyrtel, cognate with Old Norse kyrtill (“tunic”) (whence Icelandic kyrtill, Danish kjortel (“gown, tunic”), Swedish kjortel (“petticoat, skirt”)), from Old Norse *kurtil-, supposedly a diminutive of *kurt-, from Latin curtus (“short, shortened”). Compare German Kittel.