flower girln.
/ˈflaʊə ˌɡəːl/, U.S. /ˈflaʊər ˌɡərl/ 1. A woman or girl who sells flowers on the street, in a marketplace, etc. (as opposed to in a shop).
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1765 Lloyd's Evening Post 20–23 Sept. 295/3 The Rotation Justices of Westminster have given orders for all flower-girls, nosegay-sellers, &c. to be taken up and treated as vagrants.
1789 H. L. Piozzi Observ. Journey France I. 236 Flower-girls with baskets.
1889 Tablet 3 Aug. 167 There are two classes of flower-girl—the day-sellers and the night-sellers.
1916 G. B. Shaw Pygmalion v. 80 He treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess.
2011 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 19 Nov. c6 The resulting film is set in a make-believe Paris train station.., habituated by a beautiful flower girl.
2. Originally U.S. A young girl who walks down the aisle in front of a bride, couple, etc., carrying flowers or scattering flower petals. Also more generally: a child bridesmaid.
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1894 N.-Y. Times 30 Nov. 8/3 Misses Maggie and Mabel Frost, sisters of the bride, were her maids. Miss Leila Squires officiated as ‘flower girl’.
1955 A. De Leeuw & C. De Leeuw Expandable Browns v. 66 Christine's big sister got married and Christine was flower girl.
1977 West Briton 25 Aug. 16/6 The bridesmaids..wore dresses of pink chiffon and carried posies of gold rosebuds. The flower girl..wore a blue and white dress.
2015 Church Times 11 Sept. 19/4 On the day, the bride was attended by flowergirls and bridesmaids small and large—too many to enumerate.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
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n.1765- solemnest
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