painted lady

English

painted lady (1)

painted ladies (4) in San Francisco

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

painted lady (plural painted ladies)

1. Any of certain cryptic patterned butterflies of genus Vanessa (family Nymphalidae), especially .

   Synonym: (US) cosmopolite

2. (botany) The painted trillium (), a forest wildflower of North America.
3. (slang, dated or historical) A prostitute (in reference to their use of makeup).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prostitute

   • 2011, Jan MacKell, Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains, p. 348:

     In Cheyenne in 1883, a Dr. W.A. Wyan tried in vain to save painted lady Sallie Talbot.

4. (US, architecture) A Victorian house repainted with vibrant colors to accentuate the architectural design, especially in San Francisco, California.
   • 2006, Karen Zukowski, Creating the Artful Home, Gibbs Smith (→ISBN), page 80:

     An archetypal American streetscape is lined with Aesthetic movement houses: Stick Style cottages with muscular roof trusses and exposed timbering; many-colored painted ladies with gingerbread porches; […]

5. The sea snail Phasianella australis.

Translations

butterfly

• Bulgarian: дяволска пеперуда f (djavolska peperuda)
• Finnish: ohdakeperhonen
• Maori: pepe-para-hua
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Navajo: kʼaalógii yistłʼiní

Further reading

• Vanessa cardui on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• painted ladies on Wikipedia.Wikipedia