Meaning of Bluestocking | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A scholarly, literary, or cultured woman.
   derogatory, usually
2. A member of an 18th-century Blue Stockings Society.
   historical
3. A member of the English parliament of 1653, more commonly called the Barebones Parliament.
   historical

Equivalents

Examples

“Many of her ladyship’s letters were the most whimsical rhodomontades that ever blue-stocking penned.”

“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.”

“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⟳.””

““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.[…]””

“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.”

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

“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⟳.”

CEFR level