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Definition of Bluestocking
1. Noun. A woman having literary or intellectual interests.
Definition of Bluestocking
1. n. A literary lady; a female pedant.
Definition of Bluestocking
1. Noun. A scholarly, literary, or cultured woman. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Bluestocking
1. [n -S]
Medical Definition of Bluestocking
1.
1. A literary lady; a female pedant.
As explained in Boswell's "Life of Dr. Johnson", this term is derived from the name given to certain meetings held by ladies, in Johnson's time, for conversation with distinguished literary men. An eminent attendant of these assemblies was a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings. He was so much distinguished for his conversational powers that his absence at any time was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became common, "We can do nothing without the blue stockings." Hence these meetings were sportively called bluestocking clubs, and the ladies who attended them, bluestockings.
2.
Lexicographical Neighbors of Bluestocking
Literary usage of Bluestocking
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Salon and English Letters: Chapters on the Interrelations of Literature by Chauncey Brewster Tinker (1915)
"... CHAPTER VII THE bluestocking CLUB THE list of bluestocking ladies given by
Hannah More in her poem, Bas Bleu, is as follows: ' Vesey of verse the judge ..."
2. Some Eighteenth Century Churchmen: Glimpses of English Church Life in the by George Lacey May (1920)
"... Horace Walpole and "bluestocking " ladies—Retirement to Cowslip Green, and
growing seriousness of purpose—Helped by Wilberforce in efforts for education ..."
3. The Cornhill Magazine by George Smith (1905)
"He glanced round and saw Charlesworth and bluestocking hardly a length behind.
... The good horse, labouring hard, made a last effort, but bluestocking also ..."
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