Meaning & use
Shirtsleeves
Last updated
The sleeves of a shirt, or, in the phrase "in (one's) shirtsleeves," the state of wearing just a shirt without a jacket or coat.
See it in a sentence
He rolled up his shirtsleeves and got to work in the garden.
Despite the formal office, he worked in his shirtsleeves on hot summer days.
A note on using this word
The idiom "shirtsleeve diplomacy" describes an informal, plain-spoken approach to negotiation, evoking someone who has rolled up their sleeves to work directly rather than through formal channels.
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