corsletcorseletn.

/ˈkɔːslɪt/

Forms: Also 1500s corslete, corslait, corslett, corselette, 1500s–1700s corcelet, 1600s corpslet, (1600s–1800s croslet).

Etymology: < French corselet (16th cent. in Littré), double diminutive of cors body (compare Italian corsaletto, Spanish corselete, < French).

a. A piece of defensive armour covering the body.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > body armour > [noun] > coat of mail or corselet

ring netOE

burnec1050

briniec1175

hauberk1297

coatc1300

bryn1330

habergeon1377

jackc1380

doublet of defence (or fence)1418

petticoatc1425

gesteron1469

byrnie1488

coat of fence1490

corset1490

corse1507

sark of mail1515

plate-coat1521

shirt of mail1522

mail-coat1535

corslet1563

costlet1578

pewter coat1584

cataphract1591

pyne doublet1600

sponge1600

coat-armour1603

brace1609

coat of arms1613

frock of mail1671

mail-shirt1816

mail-sark1838

1563 B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. K.ii All armed braue in Corsletes white.

1608 T. Hudson tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Ivdith i. 24 in J. Sylvester Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) While th' Armorers..the sturdie steele doth beate, And makes thereof a corpslet or a iacke.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State iv. xvii. 329 Surely a corslet is no canonicall coat for me.

1697 S. Patrick Comm. Exod. (xxviii. 32) 556 The ancient Habergions or Corslets,..made of Leather and Linen.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis vii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 426 The Croslet some, and some the Cuishes mould.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. ii. 502 His hack'd and riven corslet.

1825 W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1826) I. 445 Shirts of mail and croslets.

1843 W. H. Ainsworth Tower of London (1864) 2 Polished corslets flashed in the sunbeams.

1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 54 Geraint's [lance], Struck thro' the bulky bandit's corselet home.

figurative.1637 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. cxliii. 339 The love of Christ hath a corslet of proof on it and arrows will not draw blood of it.

†b. transferred. A soldier armed with a corslet. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > warrior > armed man > man wearing armour > [noun]

helma1400

knight caligate1562

iron man1596

corslet1598

corsleteer1609

corslet-man1611

cuirassier1625

kurisee1649

cataphract1671

hoplomachist1793

1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres ii. 18 How many armed Corslets, and vnarmed pikes.

1620 Thomas's Dict. (ed. 12) Primores..the pikemen or corslets.

1648 C. Cotterell & W. Aylesbury tr. E. C. Davila Contin. Civill Warres France xii. 1065 La Fountaine-Martel, and Agueville..sallied out..each with ten Fire-locks, and twenty Corslets.

1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation Introd. 17 To levy certain horsemen, both demy-lances and corslets.

a. A garment (usually tight-fitting) covering the body as distinct from the limbs.

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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > other

kirtlec893

viteroke?c1225

bleauntc1314

surcoata1330

paltock1353

courtepy1362

tunicle1377

gipona1387

juponc1400

petticoatc1425

wardecorpsc1440

placard1483

galbart1488

corsletc1500

truss1563

gippo1617

juste-au-corps1656

fore-belly1663

vest1666

justicoat1669

coat1670

amiculum1722

arba kanfot1738

slip1762

hap-warm1773

aba1792

Moldave1800

abaya1810

saya1811

tzitzit1816

cote-hardie1834

tobe1835

yelek1836

panties1845

cyclas1846

exomis1850

himation1850

jumper1853

blouse1861

peplum1866

exomion1875

confection1885

lammy1886

surquayne1887

bluey1888

fatigue-blouse1890

sling-jacket1900

top1902

sun top1934

sillapak1942

tank top1949

ao dai1961

tank1985

c1500 Two Dandies in F. J. Furnivall Ballads from MSS I. 456 Wyth corselettys of fyne veluet slyped Down to the hard kne.

1683 Britanniæ Speculum 92 [Cæsar] offered to Venus Genitrix..a Corslet of British Pearles.

1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 18 The women wear a petticoat, and a short corselet or jacket closely fitting their shapes.

1885 Globe 31 Jan. 7/4 Velvet corselet over a faille bodice, and sleeves embroidered to match.

b. (Usually in form corselette.) A woman's foundation garment, usually combining brassière and girdle in one piece.

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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > underwear > [noun] > combined clothing for upper or lower parts of body

combination1684

union suit1868

combination garment1884

combi1891

pantywaist1910

cami-knickers1915

cami-petticoat1923

teddy1924

cami-bocker1926

corselette1926

combs1931

all-in-one1939

body stocking1964

teddy bear1978

1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 9 Jan. 3/7 (advt.) Corselettes of strong brocade, side hooking with wide panels of elastic at sides.

1952 John o' London's Weekly 1 Aug. 736/3 A flesh wound..was caused by a bone in the corselette (lovely word) worn under her sarong.

1967 E. A. Gollschewsky in Coast to Coast 1965–6 91 Put on your new blue suit, Leonie... And your corselette, of course.

3. Zoology. That part of an insect which lies between the head and abdomen; the thorax. Also applied to an external structure on the thorax of some fishes, and to the mantle or pallium of a mollusc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > parts of insects > [noun] > thorax

truncus1706

corslet1753

alitrunk1826

trunk1826

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish > parts of mollusc

ungulaa1382

mantlea1475

trunk1661

diaphragm1665

lid1681

operculum1681

ear1688

beard1697

corslet1753

scar1793

opercle1808

pleura1826

pallium1834

byssus1835

cephalic ganglia1835–6

opercule1836

lingual ribbon1839

tube1839

cloak1842

test1842

collar1847

testa1847

rachis1851

uncinus1851

land-shell1853

mantle cavity1853

mesopodium1853

propodium1853

radula1853

malacology1854

gill comb1861

pallial cavity1862

tongue-tootha1877

mesopode1877

odontophore1877

pallial chamber1877

shell-gland1877

rasp1879

protopodium1880

ctenidium1883

osphradium1883

shell-sac1883

tooth-ribbon1883

megalaesthete1885

rachidian1900

scungille1953

tentacle-sheath-

the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > structure on thorax

corslet1834

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Corcelet, in natural history, that part of the fly class which is analogous in its situation to the breast in other animals..Some flies have a double corcelet.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 35 [The butterfly has] three parts; the head, the corselet, and the body.

1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 201 A soft corslet round the thorax, formed by scales larger and smoother than those on the rest of the body.

1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 711/2 The corslet occupies a part of the superior and posterior edge of the shell.

1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. II. 380/2 It [the mantle] is here not unfrequently termed the corselet.

1848 Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 2 vi. 312 The legs are represented too long, the corselet or thorax too narrow.

Compounds

C1. corslet-maker, corslet making.

ΚΠ

1886 H. Sidgwick Outl. Hist. Ethics ii. §3. 30 Xenophon has recorded..a dialogue with a corslet-maker, in which Socrates..draws out the rationale of corslet-making.

C2.

† corslet-man n. Obsolete a soldier armed with a corslet.

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