bodice

From bodies, plural of body (“upper part of a dress”)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒdɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːdɪs/

bodice (plural bodices)

1. (fashion) A sleeveless shirt for women, sometimes provided with detachable sleeves.
2. (fashion) Blouse; any shirt for women, particularly the upper part of a two-piece dress or European folk costume.
   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 1, in Crime out of Mind‎:

     On the cover of the leaflet advertising the Alpenrose Gasthof in Zirl am Gurgl […] there is a decorative picture of a young woman. She is wearing Tyrolese costume: the low-cut white bodice with cross-laced velvet waistcoat, the floral apron and dirndl skirt.

3. (fashion) The upper portion of a women's one-piece dress, equivalent to a shirt.
4. (fashion) Underbodice: an undershirt for women, (archaic) particularly a corset or other undershirt stiffened with whalebone.

• (sleeveless shirt for women): jelick (Ottoman Turkish version); dudou (Chinese version); yem (Chinese version in Vietnamese contexts); angiya (Indian Muslim version); jumps (obsolete European version)
• (sleeved shirt for women): See blouse
• (undershirt for women): See underbodice

• (sleeveless shirt for women): plastron (decorated front area)
• (upper part of a dress): robing (decorative trim)

• bodice ripper
• liberty bodice
• Watteau bodice

• ceboid