skirt

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
skirt/skɜːt/

▶noun

• 1 a woman's outer garment fastened around the waist and hanging down around the legs.

  ■ the part of a coat or dress that hangs below the waist.

  ■ informal women regarded as objects of sexual desire.

• 2 a surface that conceals or protects the wheels or underside of a vehicle or aircraft.

  ■ the curtain that hangs round the base of a hovercraft to contain the air cushion.

• 3 an animal's diaphragm and other membranes as food.

  ■ Brit. a cut of meat from the lower flank.

• 4 a small flap on a saddle covering the bar from which the stirrup hangs.

• 5 archaic an edge, border, or extreme part.

▶verb

• 1 (also skirt along/around) go round or past the edge of.

• 2 (often skirt around) avoid dealing with.

– derivatives
-skirted adjective.

– origin ME: from ON skyrta ‘shirt’; cf. synonymous OE scyrte, also short.