bluestocking
bluestocking noun: a scholarly, literary, or cultured woman.
Noun
bluestocking (plural bluestockings)
- A scholarly, literary, or cultured woman.
- Many of her ladyship’s letters were the most whimsical rhodomontades that ever blue-stocking penned.1844 August, Fitz-Boodle [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Barry Provides for His Family and Attains the Height of His Luck”, in “The Luck of Barry Lyndon; A Romance of the Last Century”, in...
- But Isabel was no blue-stocking; she was full of vivacity and life, and her conversation was sprightly and agreeable, even when turning upon those serious subjects.1846, George W.M. Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, volume 1, London: George Vickers, page 109
- Synonyms:
- basbleu
- A member of an 18th-century Blue Stockings Society.
- A member of the English parliament of 1653, more commonly called the Barebones Parliament.
bluestocking meaning in Tamil
bluestocking in Tamil
- படித்த அணங்கு, தற்பெருமையுடைய கலைமாகு
Examples of bluestocking in a sentence
- And let none cast in my teeth[…]the remark of Hippolytus in Euripides: “I detest a bluestocking.1896, Maurice Walter Keatinge (tr.), The great didactic of John Amos Comenius, London: Adam and Charles Black, translation of Didactica...
- But you think that it^([sic]) is a bluestocking.1904 [1878], chapter 9, in Leo Wiener, transl., Anna Karénin, Boston: D. Estes & Company, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by...
- Bragg was a Massachusetts-born bluestocking, a New Woman of the Progressive Era who changed not only the cultural face of Charleston but also the nation's approach to museum education.2001, Louise Anderson Allen, A Bluestocking in Charleston: The Life and Career of Laura Bragg, Columbia: University of South Carolina...
- The artist who created strong, passionate, brilliant heroines turns out to have disapproved of bluestockings and refused to educate his own intelligent daughters.2003 October 5, Brooke Allan, “The Surveyor of Customs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Synonyms of bluestocking
Forms of bluestocking
| plural | bluestockings |
|---|---|
| alternative form | blue-stocking |
Origin of bluestocking
From the 17th century. Originally in reference to blue stockings worn by men as opposed to more expensive white stockings. First associated with the Barebones Parliament in the 17th century, then with a series of literary salons which admitted female intellectuals in the 18th century; in particular the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society led by Elizabeth Montagu on the Parisian model. The term was not originally derogatory. However, none of the ladies wore blue stockings. The first recorded use of the term is in reference to Benjamin Stillingfleet. He was not rich enough to have the proper formal dress, which included black silk stockings and so he attended in everyday blue worsted stockings.
Words formed from bluestocking
Questions about bluestocking
- What does bluestocking mean?
- Bluestocking means a scholarly, literary, or cultured woman.
- What is bluestocking in Tamil?
- Bluestocking in Tamil is படித்த அணங்கு, தற்பெருமையுடைய கலைமாகு. See Bluestocking meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use bluestocking in a sentence?
- And let none cast in my teeth[…]the remark of Hippolytus in Euripides: “I detest a bluestocking.
- What part of speech is bluestocking?
- Bluestocking is a noun.
- What is the plural of bluestocking?
- The plural of bluestocking is bluestockings.
Words near bluestocking in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bluestocking (page history and authors); bluestocking (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “bluestocking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bluestocking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.