bluestocking

blue·stock·ing

B0349600 (blo͞o′stŏk′ĭng)n. Derogatory A woman with strong scholarly or literary interests.

[After the Blue Stocking, Society, a nickname for a predominantly female literary club of 18th-century London (probably so called after the blue worsted stockings commonly worn as part of informal dress at the time).]

bluestocking

(ˈbluːˌstɒkɪŋ) nusually derogatory a scholarly or intellectual woman[from the blue worsted stockings worn by members of a C18 literary society]

blue•stock•ing

(ˈbluˌstɒk ɪŋ)

n. a woman with considerable literary or intellectual ability or interest. [1780–90; orig., a member of a mid-18th-century London literary circle that included some women (so called from the blue stockings worn by a male participant)]

Thesaurus

Noun

bluestocking - a woman having literary or intellectual interestsbas bleuadult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"

Translations

Blaustrumpf

bluestocking

bluestocking,

derisive term originally applied to certain 18th-century women with pronounced literary interests. During the 1750s, Elizabeth Vesey held evening parties, at which the entertainment consisted of conversation on literary subjects. Eminent men of the day were invited to contribute to these conversations. Hannah MoreMore, Hannah,
1745–1833, English author and social reformer. She was educated, and later taught, at her sisters' school for girls in Bristol. At the age of 22 she became engaged to William Turner, a wealthy squire 20 years older than she; he never married her, but settled
..... Click the link for more information. , Elizabeth MontaguMontagu, Elizabeth (Robinson),
1720–1800, English author, one of the bluestockings. She was noted for her wit and beauty, and her London literary salon was frequented by Johnson, Walpole, Burke, and other eminent men.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Elizabeth CarterCarter, Elizabeth,
1717–1806, English poet and translator. Under the pen name Eliza she contributed for years to the Gentleman's Magazine. One of the group of 18th-century women known as the bluestockings, she was a friend of Johnson, Burke, Reynolds, and Horace
..... Click the link for more information. , among others, continued this tradition. Boswell, in his Life of Dr. Johnson, states that these "bluestocking clubs" were so named because of Benjamin Stillingfleet, who attended in unconventional blue worsted stockings rather than the customary black silk stockings. In time the name bluestocking was applied solely to women of pedantic literary tastes.

bluestocking

blue·stock·ing

bluestocking

blue•stock•ing

bluestocking

bluestocking,

bluestocking

Synonyms for bluestocking

noun a woman having literary or intellectual interests

Synonyms

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