blouse

See also: blousé

English

A blouse

Etymology 1

1828, from French blouse (“a workman's or peasant's smock”), which see for more.

More at blee, fold.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blaʊs/, /blaʊz/
• Rhymes: -aʊs, -aʊz

Noun

blouse (plural blouses)

1. (fashion, obsolete) A shirt, typically loose and reaching from the neck to the waist.
2. (fashion) A shirt for women, particularly a shirt with buttons; a dress shirt tailored for women.
3. (military fashion) A loose-fitting uniform jacket.

Synonyms

• bodice (also used for undershirts)

Hyponyms

• Watteau bodice

Derived terms

• overblouse
• underblouse

Descendants

• → Gujarati: બ્લાઉઝ (blāujha)
• → Japanese: ブラウス (burausu), ブルーズ (burūzu)
• → Korean: 블라우스 (beullauseu)

Translations

an outer garment, usually loose, that is similar to a shirt

• Arabic: بَلُوزَة f (balūza), بْلُوزَة f (blūza)
• Bulgarian: блу́за (bg) f (blúza)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女襯衫／女衬衫 (zh) (nǚchènshān), 女衬衫 (zh) (nǚ chènshān)

• Czech: blůza (cs) f, halenka f
• Dutch: blouse (nl), bloes (nl)
• Esperanto: bluzo
• Finnish: pusero (fi), paitapusero
• French: chemisier (fr) m, corsage (fr) m
• German: Bluse (de) f
• Gujarati: બ્લાઉઝ (blāujha)
• Hungarian: blúz (hu)
• Ido: bluzo (io), korsajo (io)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: camicia (it) f, blusa (it) f, camicetta f
• Japanese: ブラウス (burausu)
• Korean: 블라우스 (ko) (beullauseu)
• Kyrgyz: блу́зка f (blúzka)
• Latin: pēlūsia
• Lithuanian: palaidinė
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Low German: Bluus (nds) f
• Luxembourgish: Blus f
• Macedonian: блуза f (bluza)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bluse m or f

  Nynorsk: bluse m or f

• Persian: بلوز (fa) (bluz), شومیز (fa) (šomiz)
• Polish: bluzka (pl) f bluza (pl) m
• Portuguese: blusa (pt) f
• Romanian: bluză (ro) f
• Russian: блу́зка (ru) f (blúzka), блу́за (ru) f (blúza)
• Rwanda-Rundi: ikizibaho
• Spanish: blusa (es) f
• Swedish: blus (sv)
• Tagalog: blusa (tl)
• Turkish: bluz (tr)
• Turkmen: köýnek
• Venetian: bluxa (vec) f
• Walloon: tchimijhî (wa) m, coirsaedje m (old), blouze (wa) f, taeye (wa) f

military: a loose-fitting uniform jacket

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 工作罩衫

• Finnish: asetakki
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: camisaccio m
• Portuguese: blusão m
• Russian: гимнастёрка (ru) f (gimnastjórka)

Verb

1. To hang a garment in loose folds.
2. (military) To tuck one's pants/trousers (into one's boots).
   • 1989, Bernard C. Nalty, Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military, page 311

     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. […] "

Antonyms

• (military): unblouse

Derived terms

• deblouse
• unblouse

Etymology 2

Noun

blouse (plural blouses)

1. Alternative form of blouze
2. Alternative form of blowess
3. Alternative form of blowze

Derived terms

• blousy

Anagrams

• Belous, Lobues, besoul, boules, obelus

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blus/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: blou‧se
• Rhymes: -us

Noun

blouse f (plural blouses, diminutive blouseje n)

1. Alternative spelling of bloes

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bluz/

• audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

1788, of obscure origin. Three theories include:

• French blousse (“scraps of wool”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Occitan lano blouso (“pure or short wool”), from blous, blos (“pure, empty, bare”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German blōz "naked, bare" (German bloss "bare")
• A conflation of the aforementioned and French blaude, bliaud (“a kind of smock”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French bliau, also from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Frankish *blīfald (“topcoat of scarlet colour”), from blī- "coloured, bright" + -fald (“crease, fold”), from Proto-Germanic *blīwą + *falþaną. More at blee, fold.
• From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Medieval Latin pelusia, from Pelusium, a city of Upper Egypt, a clothing manufacturer during the Middle Ages.

Noun

blouse f (plural blouses)

1. uniform or coat with buttons down the front

   blouse d'hôpital — hospital gown

Related terms

• blousard
• blouson

Descendants

• → Arabic: بَلُوزَة‎ (balūza), بْلُوزَة‎ (blūza)
• → Czech: blůza
• → Dutch: bloes, blouse
• → English: blouse
  • → Gujarati: બ્લાઉઝ (blāujha)
  • → Japanese: ブラウス (burausu), ブルーズ (burūzu)
  • → Korean: 블라우스 (beullauseu)
• → German: Bluse, Blouse
  • → Bulgarian: блу́за (blúza)
  • → Hungarian: blúz
  • → Macedonian: блуза (bluza)
  • → Russian: блу́за (blúza)
  • → Serbo-Croatian: blúza
• → German Low German: Bluus
• → Italian: blusa
• → Luxembourgish: Blus
• → Norwegian: bluse
• → Persian: بلوز (boluz, bluz)
• → Polish: bluza
• → Portuguese: blusa
• → Romanian: bluză
• → Spanish: blusa
  • → Tagalog: blusa
• → Swedish: blus
• → Turkish: bluz
• → Venetian: bluxa
• → Walloon: blouze

Etymology 2

belouse is earlier. The word appears already in the early 17^th century and its origin is unknown.

Alternative forms

• belouse, belouzes

Noun

blouse f (plural blouses)

1. (archaic) any one of the holes on a billiards table

Descendants

• → German: Blouse, Bluse
• → Russian: лу́за (lúza)

Etymology 3

Verb

blouse

1. first-person singular present indicative of blouser
2. third-person singular present indicative of blouser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of blouser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of blouser
5. second-person singular imperative of blouser

Further reading

• “blouse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• boules

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Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

blouse f (plural blouses)

1. (Jersey) smock

Synonyms

• c'mînsole dé molleton