milliner

See also: Milliner

English

Etymology

From Middle English Milener (“native of Milan”), irregular form of Milan + -er, from the purchase and importation of women's clothing from Milan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪlɪnɚ/
• enPR: mĭ'lə-nər

Noun

milliner (plural milliners)

1. A person who is involved in the manufacture, design, or sale of hats for women.

   Hypernyms: hatmaker, hatter

   • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, “19”, in Babbitt:

     They went to a musical comedy and nudged each other at the matrimonial jokes and the prohibition jokes; they paraded the lobby, arm in arm, between acts, and in the glee of his first release from the shame which dissevers fathers and sons Ted chuckled, "Dad, did you ever hear the one about the three milliners and the judge?"

   • 2015, Alison Matthews David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, →ISBN, page 92:

     In the 1880s, milliners decorated hats with entire stuffed birds.

Derived terms

• horse-milliner
• millinery

See also

• haberdasher