Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A woman's undergarment worn to support and give contour to the breasts.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A form of woman's undergarment, often stiffened with wire or whalebones, or the like, and worn to cover and support the breasts; -- also called
bra . It usually has straps which support it from the shoulders, but strapless variants are also made.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an undergarment worn by women to support their breasts
Etymologies
- From the French word brassière. (Wiktionary)
- French brassière, child's jacket with sleeves, brassiere, from Old French braciere : bras, arm (from Latin brācchium; see brachium) + -iere, -ier, one associated with; see -er1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word brassiere comes from the Old French braciere, which was a piece worn on the arm as protection.”
“A rummage through the Rigby & Peller archive, which is stored in silk-lined suitcases in an office above its Conduit Street store in Mayfair, shows that a lot has changed since Vogue coined the term "brassiere" in 1907.”
The Guardian: From corsets for comedians to bespoke bras: Rigby & Peller has seen it all
“I had once looked up the word brassiere in the dictionary, and I had been aroused: “A woman’s undergarment worn to support the breasts.””
“The word brassiere first appeared in fashion bible Vogue a century ago.”
“Just the word brassiere, or its shortened form, bra, was enough to stimulate me, and to say to myself “Mary’s bra” was deadly.”
“I think that it is funny that the bra-burners forgot that originally the brassiere was a liberation for women, a step up from the corset when the country needed extra metal for the war.”
“Removing her brassiere is a necessary skill you must learn if you are ever to get intimate with a woman.”
“I resent that comment, wishiwasmerckx, my man boobs are kept fully in check with my handmade coconut shell brassiere which is painted in team colors!”
“Dominic Holden, news reporter at The Stranger, regrets that in an attempt to spell out the word "brassiere" in a Slog post, he mistakenly spelled it "brazier," which actually means "barbecue.”
“Like all the best questions .... bra is short for brassiere, which a single item, als the word is French, and they are a singular people. bra is short for brassiere which is a word for a single object, whereas any item of clothing that covers both legs separately is referred to in plural as it comprises two leg coverings put together.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘brassiere’.
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*e?e
Words whose last and third-to-last letters are both "e".
here, eke, were, complete, mete, replete, adhere, where, mere, sphere, austere, aesthete and 99 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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[Open] Frequently confused and misused
Words that are often used to mean something other than what they mean to lexicographers.
apprehensible, immanent, eminent, seamen, venal, venial, brassiere, brassier, brasserie, brazier, brasier, elegy and 38 more...
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kirstenio's Words
lascivious, transcendant, phantasmagoria, salacious, beatitude, solitude, pseudo, pretentious, inanity, sublimation, clobber, obscurity and 186 more...
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Favorite Tangible Object Words
Trimming the "Chained Bear's Favorites" list so I don't crash people's computers... like my own...
castanets, whaup, budgie, wallabies, ring-wraith, hobbit, chinchilla, guano, merganser, phalarope, phalarope, curlew and 138 more...
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curligirli0's Words
crapulous, swish, shiatsu, zen, xenoglossy, nincompoop, loquacious, pianissimo, onomatopoeia, imperturbable, silky, hosanas and 379 more...
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Learned words
Words which are highly likely to be found in the work of learned writers.
ailurophile, labyrinthine, lagniappe, colleague, anechoic, reglets, fluctuations, scalar, implicit, constitute, mortification, ambassadors and 629 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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the physical experience
wank, snog, tendon, sinew, sauce shelf, pet, arse, astigmatism, bisexual, brassiere, breast, climax and 186 more...
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Rocketeer's Words
defenestrate, shutterbug, antique, periscope, dogma, peculiar, eccentric, banana, apple, pear, cherry, photograph and 189 more...
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Hit list
vomitorium, fainthearted, bigotry, clusterfuck, time, crepuscular, upchuck, unbosomed, buffoon, omnibus, zealot, crime and 21 more...
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prone to confusion/misspelling
ergot, argot, paean, panegyric, elegy, eulogy, ingenious, ingenuous, demur, dispassioned, impassioned, corundum and 26 more...
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jadecat's Words
medulla oblongata, scantiness, extravagence, stigma, muck, dilapidated, endowment, buccaneer, qualms, frolic, toot, fandango and 32 more...
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Important Concepts I Learned from Wat...
mudhen, bowel resection, tracheotomy, shrapnel, brassiere, pinko, peace talks, salami, lebanese, section 8, hot lips, frank burns eats ... and 74 more...
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dynamite's Words
avant-garde, secret, shutters, brassiere, devanagari, lotus, composition, film, vanguard, ultra, brocade, voile and 41 more...
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50 Word Psycho Thriller
survivor, jaded, defenestration, dodge, lunge, resurrection, sobbing, relief, tongue, lolling, pool cue, impale and 38 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for brassiere.
Dan337
Jan 1, 2011