1816, "short, light garment with sleeves," formerly worn by women as morning-dress, from French camisole (16c.), from Provençal camisola "mantle," diminutive of camisa "shirt," from Late Latin camisia "shirt, nightgown" (see chemise). In modern use a sleeveless undergarment for women (1900). In late 19c. it generally meant "strait-jacket, a restraint for lunatics."
mid-15c., in reference to garments, "padded with stuffing," past-participle adjective from stuff (v.). Hence stuffed shirt "pompous, ineffectual person" (1913).
also dickie, dickey, a diminutive form of dick, used in a variety of senses whose origin, application, and connection are more or less obscure. These include: "detached shirt front worn in place of a shirt" (1811); "a leather apron" (1874); "a donkey" (1793); "a small bird," (1851, short for dicky-bird, a nursery-word attested from 1781); "seat in a carriage on which the driver sits" (1801). For at least the garment senses Century Dictionary suggests Dutch dek "a cover, a horse-cloth."
