seamstress
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): (traditional) /ˈsɛm(p).stɹɪs/, (now more common) /ˈsiːm(p).stɹɪs/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]seamstress (plural seamstresses)
- A woman who sews clothes professionally.
- 1656, James Howell, Some Sober Inspections Made Into the Carriage and Consults of the Late Long-Parliament, whereby Occaſion is taken to ſpeak of Parliaments in former Times, and of Magna Charta, with ſome Reflexes upon Government in General, pages 128-129:
- […] the Seamſtreſs brought in her ſilver thimble, the Chamber-maid her Bodkin, the Cook his ſilver ſpoon, the Vintner his Bowl into the common Treaſury of War and they who contributed to ſo pious a work, were invited more then others in ſome Churches to come to the Holy Communion in the very time of adminiſtration; […]
- 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Procession of Life”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:
- They are seamstresses, who have plied the daily and nightly needle in the service of master tailors and close-fisted contractors, until now it is almost time for each to hem the borders of her own shroud.
- 1992, Robert Jordan, “Chapter 52: Need”, in The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time; 4), London: Orbit Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 862:
- “If you have finished blathering about men, perhaps you won’t mind skipping over the new seamstress you’ve no doubt found?"
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]woman who sews clothes professionally
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