👖 Workwear brand 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 A family name 👔 Detachable shirt front

Dickies

9.5

A small cloth piece worn under a jacket to look like a full shirt

noun
/ˈdɪkiz/

Archaic

: dickie

The tailor recommended Dickies for a formal appearance without the bulk of a full shirt.

Examples

She wore a pair of Dickies under her blazer to complete her uniform.
Vintage fashion enthusiasts sometimes use Dickies to achieve a classic layered look.
She wore a stylish Dickies under her blazer.
I love how these Dickies look with my dress!
She wore a pair of Dickies under her blazer to complete her uniform.
The tailor recommended Dickies for a formal appearance without the bulk of a full shirt.
Vintage fashion enthusiasts sometimes use Dickies to achieve a classic layered look.

Synonyms

dickey

vsDickies

Archaic

9.9

A separate front shirt piece worn under a jacket to look like a full shirt

is used more widely and also worn under dresses or blouses

dickie

vsDickies

Archaic

9.9

A small piece worn at the front of a shirt to make it look like a full shirt

is neutral in gender and used under jackets or dresses for blouse appearance

Surface Forms

Dickies singular

Dickies plural

Morphology

Dickies = dickey (transparent) = dickey + s

This is the regular plural of 'dickey', so the meaning is directly recoverable from the base noun.

Etymology

Dickies for the little fabric panels comes from an older word dickey, which meant a small false 'shirt front' used to make a jacket look as if it had a full shirt underneath. So Dickies are detachable pieces that give the 'appearance' of a whole shirt.