Vest Meaning
/vɛst/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.
nounA sleeveless garment, often with a low-cut neck, usually worn under a shirt or blouse.
Sentence Examples
You need to reverse your vest, it's back to front.
In the winter I wear a coat on top of my vest.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He wore a warm ____ under his heavy coat to stay comfortable in winter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He wore a thick wool ____ over his shirt to keep himself warm during the cold winter afternoon in the park today.
Word Origin & History
Derived from French veste (“a vest, jacket”), from Latin vestis (“a garment, gown, robe, vestment, clothing, vesture”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéstis, from *wes- (“to be dressed”) (English wear). Cognate with Sanskrit वस्त्र (vastra) and Spanish vestir.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"He gripped some of the shreds and pulled off his vest and the shirt beneath it, his clothing disintegrating around him. What in the hell point was there in wearing a twenty-five-pound bulletproof vest if you could still get gunned to death?"
— 2010, Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, Random House, →ISBN, page 162:
"In state attended by her maiden train, / Who bore the vests that holy rites require."
— 1700, John Dryden, Palamon and Arcite:
"Came vested all in white, pure as her mind."
— 1673, John Milton, Methought I Saw my Late Espoused Saint:
"With ether vested, and a purple sky."
— 1697, John Dryden, Aeneid:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He wore a warm ____ under his heavy coat to stay comfortable in winter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He wore a thick wool ____ over his shirt to keep himself warm during the cold winter afternoon in the park today.