The AI-powered English dictionary
plural shirtfronts
The front part of a shirt. examples
A detachable insert that simulates the front of a shirt. quotations examples
I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
(cricket) A pitch that is easy to bat on. examples
(Australian rules football) A head-on charge aimed at bumping an opponent to the ground. examples
(real estate, slang) An attractive facade applied only to the front of a house. quotations
It is explained that a "shirt front" building is one of which only the street elevation is given a finished architectural treatment, the sides and back being of cheaper material, with no attempt at unification with the front.
1927, The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer, volumes 30-32, page 100
False fronts, frequently called "shirt fronts," are futile attempts to make a small, cheap house pass for something larger and more valuable.
1967, The Appraisal of Real Estate, page 132
third-person singular simple present shirtfronts, present participle shirtfronting, simple past and past participle shirtfronted
(transitive, Australia, politics) To confront in a threatening manner. quotations examples
This was a case of a deputy shirtfronting her leader with an ultimatum and forcing a decision that would come close to wrecking the government's environmental credibility.
2014, Philip Chubb, Power Failure
Pravda has described Tony Abbott as “a disturbed mind crying out for therapy”: after his threat to “shirtfront” the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Brisbane.
2014 October 14, “Pravda lashes Tony Abbott as 'disturbed' over threat to shirtfront Vladimir Putin”, in The Guardian