minaudières

Noun

minaudière (plural minaudières)

1. (obsolete) A woman who is exaggeratedly affected or coquettish.
   • The Saxon ladies reſemble the Auſtrian no more, than the Chineſe do thoſe of London; they are very genteelly dreſſed after the Engliſh and French modes, and have, generally, pretty faces, but they are the moſt determined Minaudieres in the whole world.1716 December 2, M[ar]y W[ortle]y M[ontagu]e, “Letter XV. To the Countess of ——. Leipzig, Nov. 21, O.S. 1716.”, in Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M——y W———y M———e: … In Three Volumes, volume I...
2. A type of formal, decorative women's clutch bag without handles or a strap.
   • Another gift—the Minaudiere—from Paris, costly because it is wrought from gold, or silver, is a flat case with all those requisites which ensure the feminine peace of mind on all elaborate or special occasions—even to a lighter for those who smoke—and alternately a case for those who do not—fitted...1936, The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, volume LXXXIII, London: Ward, Lock and Bowden, →OCLC, page 166, column 1