Sleeve

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sleeve (O. Eng. slieve, or slyf, a word allied to slip, cf. Dutch sloof) is that part of a garment which covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The pattern of the sleeve is one of the characteristics of fashion in dress, varying in every country and period. Various survivals of the early forms of sleeve are still found in the different types of academic or other robes. Where the long hanging sleeve is worn it has, as still in China and Japan, been used as a pocket, whence has come the phrase to have up one's sleeve, to have something concealed ready to produce. There are many other proverbial and metaphorical expressions associated with the sleeve, such as to wear one's heart upon one's sleeve, and to laugh in one's sleeve.

Sleeves can either be long or short. They are long on most shirts, but short on others, including sportshirts.

[edit] Types of sleeves

Batwing sleeve, a long sleeve with a very deep armhole, tapering towards the wrist. Also known as a "magyar" sleeve.
Bishop sleeve, a long sleeve, fuller at the bottom than the top, and gathered into a cuff (1940s)
Cap sleeve, a very short sleeve not extending below armpit level
Dolman sleeve, a long sleeve that is very wide at the top and narrow at the wrist
Gigot sleeve or leg of mutton sleeve, a sleeve that is extremely wide over the upper arm and narrow from the elbow to the wrist
Hanging sleeve, a sleeve that opens down the side or front, or at the elbow, to allow the arm to pass through (16th century)
Juliette sleeve, a long, tight sleeve with a puff at the top, inspired by fashions of the Italian Renaissance and named after Shakespeare's tragic heroine
Pagoda sleeve, a wide, bell-shaped sleeve popular in the 1860s, worn over an engageante or false undersleeve
Paned sleeve, a sleeve made in panes or panels, allowing a lining or shirt-sleeve to show through (16th and 17th centuries)
Puffed or puff sleeve, a short, full sleeve gathered at the top and bottom, now most often seen on children's clothing
Raglan sleeve, a sleeve that extends to the neckline
Set-in sleeve, a sleeve sewn into an armhole (armscye)
Two-piece sleeve, a sleeve cut in two pieces, inner and outer, to allow the sleeve to take a slight "L" shape to accommodate the natural bend at the elbow without wrinkling; used in tailored garments
Virago sleeve, a full "paned" or "pansied" sleeve gathered into two puffs by a ribbon or fabric band above the elbow, worn in the 1620s and 1630s.

A sleeve can also be:

a tube into which another tube is inserted, which in the case of small tubes is called a thimble
a liner for the cylinder of an engine
a record sleeve
a member of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based rock band The Sleeves