bodice
/ˈbɑdɪs/ noun C2- A corset-like sleeveless overgarment for women, sometimes provided with detachable sleeves.
- A blouse; any shirt for women, particularly the upper part of a two-piece dress or similar European folk costume.
- The upper portion of a women's one-piece dress, equivalent to a shirt, sometimes specifically excluding the sleeves.
- An underbodice: an undershirt for women.
Plural bodices
From the library
There were milkmaids and shepherdesses, with brightly colored bodices and golden spots all over their gowns; and princesses with most gorgeous frocks of silver and gold and purple; and shepherds dressed in knee breeches with pink and yellow and blue stripes down them, and golden buckles on their shoes; and princes with jeweled crowns upon their heads, wearing ermine robes and satin doublets; and funny clowns in ruffled gowns, with round red spots upon their cheeks and tall, pointed caps.
But, by degrees, watch-chains, necklaces, parti-colored scarves, embroidered bodices, velvet vests, elegantly worked stockings, striped gaiters, and silver buckles for the shoes, all disappeared; and Gaspard Caderousse, unable to appear abroad in his pristine splendor, had given up any further participation in the pomps and vanities, both for himself and wife, although a bitter feeling of envious discontent filled his mind as the sound of mirth and merry music from the joyous revellers reached even the miserable hostelry to which he still clung, more for the shelter than the profit it afforded.
She wore the picturesque costume of the Catalan fisherwomen, a red and black bodice, and golden pins in her hair.
Learn bodice in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.