milliner
Syllables: mil·lin·er/ˈmɪlɪnə/US/ˈmɪlənəɹ/
milliner noun: a person who sells (women's) apparel, accessories, and other decorative goods, especially those originally manufactured in Milan.
Noun
milliner (plural milliners)
- A person who sells (women's) apparel, accessories, and other decorative goods, especially those originally manufactured in Milan.
- He hath ſongs for man, or vvoman, of all ſizes: No Milliner can ſo fit his cuſtomers vvith Gloues: […]c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Hoſt. Here comes my vvife and daughter. / […] / Clovv[n]. She is a pretty lure to dravv cuſtome to your ordinary. / Hoſt. Doſt think I keep her to that purpoſe? / Clovv. VVhen a Dove-houſe is empty, there is cumin-ſeed uſed to purloine from the reſt of the neighbours; […] A Milliner has choice of...1626 February 1 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher [et al.], “The Faire Maide of the Inne”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey...
- A person involved in the design, manufacture, or sale of hats for women.
- The Milliner muſt be thoroughly verſed in Phyſiognomy; in the Choice of Ribbons ſhe muſt have a particular regard to the Complexion, and muſt ever be mindful to cut the Head-dreſs to the Dimentions of the Face.1713 September 12 (Gregorian calendar), [John Gay], “Tuesday, September 1. 1713.”, in The Guardian, number 149, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […]; and sold by A. Baldwin […], →OCLC, page [2], column 1
- The great difficulty generally experienced by amateur milliners in lining bonnets, is mainly attributable to the error of fixing the lining in the first instance to the edge of the bonnet, instead of arranging it previously at the head part.1847, M[ary] J. Howell, “Lesson II. On Lining Straw and Other Bonnets.”, in The Hand-book of Millinery; […], London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 24
Verb
milliner (third-person singular simple present milliners, present participle millinering, simple past and past participle millinered)
- To manufacture (women's apparel, specifically hats); also, to supply (someone) with women's apparel, specifically hats.
- We pass over his ridiculous observation […] that Sallust has been "man-millinered by Dr. [Henry] Steuart;" for on what we do not understand we can make no remarks.1806 December, “Steuart’s Sallust, and The Eclectic Review”, in The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine, or, Monthly Political and Literary Censor, volume XXV, number CII, London: […] B. M‘Millan, […]...
- In the east, the only "study of mankind, is man." They have no Miss [Maria] Edgeworth, nor any of those millinering cutters-out of human nature into certain patterns of given rules in education.1831, Edward John Trelawny, chapter XLVI, in Adventures of a Younger Son. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 321
- To adorn or decorate (something).
- We would not have Poesy to be greatly millinered, whatever fashions other ladies may adopt; and when we meet her corseted in the iron framework of the sonnet's rhymes, and crinolined about with the unyielding drapery of its fourteen lines, we feel that she is no doubt elegantly dressed, but we long...1867 April, “Reviews and Literary Notices. The Book of the Sonnet. Edited by Leigh Hunt and S[amuel] Adams Lee. Boston: Roberts Brothers.”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and...
Proper noun capitalized: Milliner
Milliner (plural Milliners)
- A surname.
milliner meaning in Tamil
milliner in Tamil
- மகளிர் தலைக்கவிப்பு விற்பவர்
Examples of milliner in a sentence
- VVhen a Dove-houſe is empty, there is cumin-ſeed uſed to purloine from the reſt of the neighbours; […] A Milliner has choice of Monkies, and Paraketoes; […]1626 February 1 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher [et al.], “The Faire Maide of the Inne”, in Comedies and Tragedies […]...
- Milliners, toymen, and jewellers came down from London [to Tunbridge Wells], and opened a bazaar under the trees.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown...
- She is at present apprenticed, Miss Mowcher, or articled, or whatever it may be, to Omer and Joram, Haberdashers, Milliners, and so forth, in this town.1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Some Old Scenes, and Some New People”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London...
- In the 1880s, milliners decorated hats with entire stuffed birds.2015, Alison Matthews-David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 92:
Forms of milliner
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | milliners |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | milliners |
| present participle | millinering |
| past participle | millinered |
| past | millinered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Milliners |
Origin of milliner
The noun is a variant of Milaner (“(obsolete) inhabitant or native of Milan”) (referring to the importation and sale of women’s apparel, etc., made in Milan: see noun sense 1), from Late Middle English Milener, Miloner (“native of Milan”), from Milan + -er(e) (suffix denoting an inhabitant or resident). The verb is derived from the noun.
Words formed from milliner
Questions about milliner
- What does milliner mean?
- Milliner means a person who sells (women's) apparel, accessories, and other decorative goods, especially those originally manufactured in Milan.
- What is milliner in Tamil?
- Milliner in Tamil is மகளிர் தலைக்கவிப்பு விற்பவர். See Milliner meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use milliner in a sentence?
- VVhen a Dove-houſe is empty, there is cumin-ſeed uſed to purloine from the reſt of the neighbours; […] A Milliner has choice of Monkies, and Paraketoes; […]
- What part of speech is milliner?
- Milliner can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce milliner?
- Milliner is pronounced /ˈmɪlɪnə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of milliner?
- The plural of milliner is milliners.
Words near milliner in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: milliner (page history and authors); Milliner (page history and authors); milliner (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-milliner.wav.
Cite this entry: “milliner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/milliner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.