bodice

Etymology

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

noun

1. A sleeveless shirt for women, sometimes provided with detachable sleeves.
2. Blouse; any shirt for women, particularly the upper part of a two-piece dress or European folk costume.
   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. 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 1, in Crime out of Mind
3. The upper portion of a women's one-piece dress, equivalent to a shirt.
4. Underbodice: an undershirt for women, (archaic) particularly a corset or other undershirt stiffened with whalebone.