petticoatery

petticoatery noun: a coterie of women or girls.

Noun (1)

petticoatery (plural petticoateries)

(archaic) A coterie of women or girls.
- To do at least the first, it was resolved that we should visit the worthy gentleman en masse, to give him, the opportunity of exercising his hospitlity upon the present occasion, an acceptance of which, as he had an extremely agreeable wife, and some remarkably pretty cousins, we naturally...1840, Theodore Edward Hook, Fashionable fictions, page 23
- Immediately the whole coterie (which, in this instance, is an undiluted petticoatery) assembles for consultation.1849 June, “Letters to the Rev. Charles Fustian”, in Blackwood's Magazine, volume 65, number 404, page 680

petticoatery (uncountable)

Feminine activity and pursuits.
- We have already at different times tried to deserve well of the world by remonstrating against the errors of petticoatery, and against certain freakish “sports” in the rosebud garden of girls.1872 August 3, “Drawing-Room Slang”, in Public Opinion, volume 22, number 567, page 146
- Ergo, we are wrong to encourage conformity, busy-work, tea-timing diplomatic petticoatery — wrapping bandages against the last day, as it were — and instead should urge those who can to be themselves.1969, Foreign Service Journal, page 18

plural	petticoateries

Blend of petticoat + coterie.

From petticoat + -ery.

What does petticoatery mean?: Petticoatery means a coterie of women or girls.
What part of speech is petticoatery?: Petticoatery is a noun.
What is the plural of petticoatery?: The plural of petticoatery is petticoateries.

Adapted from Wiktionary: petticoatery (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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