Forms: α. 1 cyrtel, 3 cuer-, cuyrtel, 3–6 cur-, kur-, -tel(le, -til, -tyll; 4–5 cortel, -yl. β. 2 cer-, kier-, 2–5 kertel, (5 -tyl), 6 kertle, 6–7 -tell. γ. 3 cirtil, 3–8 kir-, kyr-, -tel, -til, etc., 5– kirtle, (6–8 kyrtle). [OE. cyrtel = ON. kyrtill tunic (Da. kjortel tunic, gown, Sw. kjortel skirt, petticoat):—*kurtil-, app. a dim. of *kurt- ‘short,’ commonly regarded as an early adoption of L. curtus. The sense ‘short coat,’ as opposed to ‘long gown,’ would suit the ordinary meaning of the ON. word, but does not apply to the use in Eng.]
1. A man’s tunic or coat, originally a garment reaching to the knees or lower, sometimes forming the only body-garment, but more usually worn with a shirt beneath and a cloak or mantle above.
In early instances freq. transl. L. tunica. As the common name for an article of male attire, kirtle seems to have gone out of use about or shortly after 1500; writers of the 16th and 17th c. use it chiefly in describing robes of state. It survived to some extent in dialects, applied to a short jacket or blouse (see quots. 1706 and 1828).
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 17. Se byrdesta sceall ʓyldan … berenne kyrtel oððe yterenne.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 64. Nimað þis gold … Bicʓað eow pællene cyrtlas.
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., Matt. vii. 15. Warnieð eow wið leasan witeʓen, þe cumeð to eow on sceapene kertlen.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 139. He ches … Stiue here to shurte and gret sac to curtle.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 127. Se þe benimð ðe þine kiertel, ȝif him þine mantel.
c. 1290. Becket, 1155, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 139. Is Cuyrtel ȝwijt blaunket.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4161. His kyrtil [Gött. MS. cirtil] sal we riue and rend.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 135. I-clad he was … Al in a kirtel of a lyght waget.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 307. Þe curtelle of wolle and a pilche.
a. 1440. Sir Eglam., 1255. To onarme hym the knyght goys In cortyls, sorcatys and schorte clothys.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxxvii. 276. A man … barefote, and in a whyte kyrtell.
1552. Huloet, Kyrtyll of a kynge worne vnder the mantyll of estate, trabea.
1577. Harrison, England, II. v. (1877), I. 116. Giuing them [knights of the Garter] a kirtle, gowne, cloke, chaperon [etc.].
1706. Phillips, Kirtle, a kind of short Jacket.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., XIII. 485. In such a kirtle as the eyes of all Shall loath to look on.
1828. Craven Dial., Kytle, a kirtle, or a short coat without laps or skirts.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 341. A white-haired elder clad in kirtle red.
2. A woman’s gown. b. A skirt or outer petticoat. (See quot. a. 1825.)
App. in common use down to about 1650, and now, as an archaism, much more frequent than sense 1.
α. c. 995. in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., VI. 133. Hio becwið Æðelf[læde] Elhhelmmes dehter … hyre twili brocenan cyrtel.
c. 1205. Lay., 4993. Heo nom hire on anne curtel [v.r. cuertel] … hire hem heo up i-tæh, hire cneon he was swiðe nehi.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 122. Scho ȝede out in hir smok … Withouten kirtelle or kemse.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 203. Her cortel … With precios perlez al umbe-pyghte.
c. 1440. Generydes, 4395. The quene dede on hir kirtill fayre and well.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., V. 165. Here entreth v. virgynes in white kertelys.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 23. Though ny be my kyrtell, yet nere is my smocke.
c. 1550. Image Hypocr., I. 417, in Skelton’s Wks. Your curtles be of silke With rochetes white as mylke.
1650. Howell, Giraffi’s Rev. Naples, ii. (1664), 9. Ladies and gentlewomen were forbidden likewise to go abroad with wide-hoop’d gowns or kirtles.
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistr., 65. A russet kirtle fenc’d the nipping air.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Kirtle, an outer petticoat to protect the other garments from dust, &c. in riding…. Scarcely, if ever, heard of now that pillions are so gone out of use.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, I. 117. In her ruddy serge kirtle and her great Tuscan hat.
3. fig. A coat or covering of any kind; a coating of paint.
1398, 1582. [see CURTEL].
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 417. Thre kyrtils do theron, of marbul greyne; But first let on be drie, and then engre[y]ne A smaller cote aboue on that.
1878. Gilder, Poet & Master, 14. The gray rock had not made Of the vine its glistening kirtle.
4. attrib. and Comb.
1530. in Weaver, Wells Wills (1890), 118. To by a kyrtilcloth for my mother.
1725. Cock-laird, in Orpheus Caledonius (1829). I maun hae a silk hood, A kirtle-sark, wyliecoat, And a silk snood.
a. 1800. Clerk’s Twa Sons, in Child, Ballads (1857), II. 67. Ben it came the Mayor’s dauchters Wi’ kirtle coat alone.
