milliner
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɪlɪnə/
enpr: mĭ'lə-nər
ipa: /ˈmɪlənəɹ/
homophone: Milaner
Forms: form: milliners
Etymology: The noun is a variant of Milaner (“(obsolete) inhabitant or native of Milan”) (referring to the importation and sale of women’s apparel, etc., made in Milan: see sense 1), from Late Middle English Milener, Miloner (“native of Milan”), from Milan + -er(e) (suffix denoting an inhabitant or resident).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: He hath ſongs for man, or vvoman, of all ſizes: No Milliner can ſo fit his cuſtomers vvith Gloues: […]
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 293, column 1:
text: Hoſt. Here comes my vvife and daughter. / […] / Clovv[n]. She is a pretty lure to dravv cuſtome to your ordinary. / Hoſt. Doſt think I keep her to that purpoſe? / Clovv. VVhen a Dove-houſe is empty, there is cumin-ſeed uſed to purloine from the reſt of the neighbours; […] A Milliner has choice of Monkies, and Paraketoes; […]
ref: 1626 February 1 (licensing date), John Fletcher [et al.], “The Faire Maide of the Inne”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 35, column 1:
text: [H]e vvill not vviſh to get out of that narrovv, that exceeding narrovv Circle; and, in my Opinion, ſhould keep no Company, but that of Tailors, VVigpuffers, and Milaners.
ref: 1742, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLII. From Miss Darnford, in Answer to the Preceding.”, in Pamela; Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], 3rd edition, volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; and sold by J. Osborn, […]; and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 285:
glosses: A person who sells (women's) apparel, accessories, and other decorative goods, especially those originally manufactured in Milan.
examples: text: The Milliner muſt be thoroughly verſed in Phyſiognomy; in the Choice of Ribbons ſhe muſt have a particular regard to the Complexion, and muſt ever be mindful to cut the Head-dreſs to the Dimentions of the Face.
ref: 1713 September 12 (Gregorian calendar), [John Gay], “Tuesday, September 1. 1713.”, in The Guardian, number 149, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […]; and sold by A. Baldwin […], →OCLC, page [2], column 1:
text: The great difficulty generally experienced by amateur milliners in lining bonnets, is mainly attributable to the error of fixing the lining in the first instance to the edge of the bonnet, instead of arranging it previously at the head part.
ref: 1847, M[ary] J. Howell, “Lesson II. On Lining Straw and Other Bonnets.”, in The Hand-book of Millinery; […], London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 24:
text: Milliners, toymen, and jewellers came down from London [to Tunbridge Wells], and opened a bazaar under the trees.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 346:
text: She is at present apprenticed, Miss Mowcher, or articled, or whatever it may be, to Omer and Joram, Haberdashers, Milliners, and so forth, in this town.
ref: 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Some Old Scenes, and Some New People”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 235:
text: We may, therefore, fairly suppose that the first milliner was probably contemporaneous with the first woman, and that the carpenters who made the ark were not ignorant of the construction of a bandbox.
ref: 1859 September 10, “Perkins’s Purple”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume I, number 20, London: […] C. Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 470, column 1:
text: 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?"
ref: 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XIX, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section III, page 243:
text: In the 1880s, milliners decorated hats with entire stuffed birds.
ref: 2015, Alison Matthews-David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 92:
hypernyms: hatmaker
hatter
glosses: A person involved in the design, manufacture, or sale of hats for women.
Coordinate terms: couturier
glovemaker
haberdasher
seamster
seamstress
shirtmaker
shoemaker
sockmaker
suitmaker
tailor
tailoress
tiemaker
Derived terms: word: horse-milliner
word: millineress
word: millinerial
word: millineric
word: millinering
word: milliner's
word: millinery
Related terms: Milan