bluestocking

See also: blue-stocking

English

Etymology

originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society led by Elizabeth Montagu on the Parisian model . Borrowed in (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French bas-bleu, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch blauwkous, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German Blaustrumpf

Note: None of the ladies wore blue stockings. Instead, Benjamin Stillingfleet is said to be the first Blue Stocking.. He was not rich enough to have the proper formal dress, which included black silk stockings and so he attended in everyday blue worsted stockings.

Noun

bluestocking (plural bluestockings)

1. (derogatory) A scholarly, literary, or cultured woman.
   • 1846, Reynolds, George W.M., The Mysteries of London volume 1, London: George Vickers, page 109:

     But Isabel was no blue-stocking; she was full of vivacity and life, and her conversation was sprightly and agreeable, even when turning upon those serious subjects.

   • 1896, Maurice Walter Keatinge (tr.), The great didactic of John Amos Comenius, London: Adam and Charles Black, translation of Didactica Magna by John Amos Comenius:

     And let none cast in my teeth […] the remark of Hippolytus in Euripides: “I detest a bluestocking. May there never be a woman in my house who knows more than is fitting for a woman to know.”

   • Template:RQ:Chmbrs YngrSt

     “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”

   • 2001, Louise Anderson Allen, A Bluestocking in Charleston: The Life and Career of Laura Bragg, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, →ISBN, →OL:

     Bragg was a Massachusetts-born bluestocking, a New Woman of the Progressive Era who changed not only the cultural face of Charleston but also the nation's approach to museum education.

   • 2003 October 5, Brooke Allan, “The Surveyor of Customs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

     The artist who created strong, passionate, brilliant heroines turns out to have disapproved of bluestockings and refused to educate his own intelligent daughters.

   • 2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times:

     "But the cultural conflict between these two post-revolutionary styles — between frat guys and feminist bluestockings, Gamergaters and the diversity police, alt-right provocateurs and 'woke' dudebros, the mouthbreathers who poured hate on the all-female 'Ghostbusters' and the tastemakers who pretended it was good — is likely here to stay."

2. A member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society

Translations

scholarly, literary, or cultured woman

• German: Blaustrumpf (de) m (member of the Blue Stockings Society)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: גרבון כחול, גרביון כחול, אישה מלומדת