Bluestocking definition | Dictionary.com

blue⋅stock⋅ing

[bloo-stok-ing]

–noun

1.	a woman with considerable scholarly, literary, or intellectual ability or interest.

2.	a member of a mid-18th-century London literary circle: Lady Montagu was a celebrated bluestocking.

Origin:
1675–85; so called from the informal attire, esp. blue woolen instead of black silk stockings, worn by some women of the group (def. 2)

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Cite This Source

Sponsored Links Blue Stocking
Blue Stocking Online. Shop Target.com.
www.Target.com

Bluestocking
Low Prices for Back-to-School! Save Big on New & Used Textbooks.
www.Half.com/Textbooks

Bluestockings at Amazon
Millions of titles, new & used. Free 2-Day Shipping w/Amazon Prime!
Amazon.com/books

blue·stock·ing (blōō'stŏk'ĭng) Pronunciation Key
n. A woman with strong scholarly or literary interests.

[After the Blue Stocking Society, a nickname for a predominantly female literary club of 18th-century London.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

bluestocking

1790, derisive word for a woman considered too learned, traces to a London literary salon founded c.1750 by Elizabeth Montagu on the Parisian model, featuring intellectual discussion instead of card games, and in place of ostentatious evening attire, simple dress, including Benjamin Stillingfleet's blue-gray tradesman's hose in place of gentleman's black silk, hence the term, first applied in derision to the whole set by Admiral Boscawen. None of the ladies wore blue stockings. Borrowed by the neighbors in loan-translations, cf. Fr. bas-bleu, Du. blauwkous, Ger. Blaustrumpf.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

bluestocking
noun
a woman having literary or intellectual interests

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Cite This Source

Bluestocking

Blue"stock`ing\, n. 1. A literary lady; a female pedant. [Colloq.]

Note: As explained in Boswell's "Life of Dr. Johnson", this term is derived from the name given to certain meetings held by ladies, in Johnson's time, for conversation with distinguished literary men. An eminent attendant of these assemblies was a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings. He was so much distinguished for his conversational powers that his absence at any time was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became common, "We can do nothing without the blue stockings." Hence these meetings were sportively called bluestocking clubs, and the ladies who attended them, bluestockings.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The American avocet (Recurvirostra Americana).

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source