bluestocking
noun
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In mid-18th century England, a group of ladies decided to replace evenings of card playing and idle chatter with "conversation parties," inviting illustrious men of letters to discuss literary and intellectual topics with them. One regular guest was scholar-botanist Benjamin Stillingfleet. His hostesses willingly overlooked his cheap blue worsted stockings (a type disdained by the elite) in order to have the benefit of his lively conversation. Those who considered it inappropriate for women to aspire to learning derisively called the group the "Blue Stocking Society." The women who were the original bluestockings rose above the attempted put-down and adopted the epithet as a name for members of their society.
Examples of bluestocking in a Sentence
Ew Staff, EW.com, 10 May 2023
The parents—a dapper young fogy with ramrod posture and a soulful, slightly rumpled bluestocking—stand behind two tidy little girls in matching sailor suits.
—Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
But the most charming of all are West's distinctive set of sisters — a hopeless romantic, a bluestocking, a fashion maven, a tomboy, and a perfect lady.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 17 Nov. 2022
One of them was the famous 18th-century bluestocking Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of Edward Montagu, a British ambassador.
—David Pryce-Jones, WSJ, 19 Aug. 2022
His polar opposite, meanwhile, was the pair of bluestockings to his left.
—Nicholas M. Gallagher, National Review, 21 Mar. 2020
Astrid hews to ideas that earn her the label of bluestocking, but Howard makes those qualities utterly desirable in Thane’s eyes.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 3 Dec. 2019
Dictionary Entries Near bluestocking
Cite this Entry
“Bluestocking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bluestocking. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
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