Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Body armor, especially a breastplate.
- n. An undergarment that is a combination of a light corset and a brassiere.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Armor for the body, in use after the perfecting of plate-armor; specifically, in the sixteenth century, the breast- and back-pieces taken together.
- n. The breastplate taken by itself.
- n. The complete armor of a pikeman, musketeer, etc., consisting of breast and back, gauntlets and tassets, with a morion or open headpiece.
- n. In zoology: In entomology, the thorax of an insect; that part to which the wings and legs are attached. In Coleoptera the part usually so called is the prothorax, bearing only the first pair of feet, and greatly surpassing the other two segments of the thorax in extent.
- n. In ichthyology, a zone or area of scales, larger than the rest, developed behind the head and about the pectoral fins of certain scombroid fishes, as in the tunnies, albicores, bonitos, and frigate-mackerels.
- n. In conchology, a ridge in the hinge of bivalves with an external ligament, with which the ligament is connected.
- To encircle with or as with a corselet.
Wiktionary
- n. Armor for the body, as, the body breastplate and backpiece taken together.
- n. Also used for the entire suit of the day, including breastplate and backpiece, tasset and headpiece.
- n. A tight-fitting item of clothing which covers the body and not the limbs.
- n. A type of women's underwear, combining a bra and a girdle in one garment; a corselette
- n. zoology The thorax of an insect.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Armor for the body, as, the body breastplate and backpiece taken together; -- also, used for the entire suit of the day, including breastplate and backpiece, tasset and headpiece.
- n. (Zoöl.) The thorax of an insect.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a piece of body armor for the trunk; usually consists of a breastplate and back piece
Etymologies
- From French corselet, from cors, an archaic spelling of corps ("body"). (Wiktionary)
- French, diminutive of Old French cors, body; see corset. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And we burned his body on a great pyre, with Elgiva, in her golden corselet, beside him singing.”
“The strapless corselet sheath gown with my signature décolletéstyling, made of my own Mountain Laurel white silk overlaid with handmade Breton lace that's almost as fine as what Great Aunt Edna used to make?”
“He got his harness off -- unbuckled and took off the great bronze corselet, in which be lay dead in another cave.”
“She picked up his corselet and buckled it on him, making him hold up his arms and kneel while she slipped it over his head.”
“He showed me primary-source drawings of the snake headdress, sandals, wing corselet, and transparent garment worn by Kushite royalty.”
“The big wrinkle on the hip is done by the piece that holds the socks up, not the corselet.”
“But first undo me these clasps — for I have not worn this corselet since the battle of Saint”
“Ay, and then, Peter, this very night my courage seduced me, moreover, into too strait a corselet, which would have been the death of me, but for the aid of this gallant young gentleman, whose trade is fighting, whereof I wish him heartily joy.”
“I will put on my head piece and corselet one day, and you shall hew at me, allowing me my broadsword to parry and pay back?”
“These vehicles, which have no counterparts nowadays, had something distorted and hunchbacked about them; and when one saw them passing in the distance, and climbing up some road to the horizon, they resembled the insects which are called, I think, termites, and which, though with but little corselet, drag a great train behind them.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘corselet’.
-
Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
-
Stalking Darkness
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Stalking Darkness.
inquest, halyard, catamount, occlude, founder, more, grouse, grapple, water butt, antepenultimate, palimpsest, hob and 196 more...
-
Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
-
A Parthian Shot: Archery Words
Just what it says. Archery rocks.
bow, arrow, longbow, crossbow, barebow, recurve, compound bow, flight, arrowhead, nock, feather, yew and 197 more...
-
1906 Railway Cipher Code
Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Asso...
abdominal, abetting, abiology, ablative, abnormal, abominate, aboveboard, abrasive, absinth, abstinent, accursed, acetate and 212 more...
-
portrait of a lady
Words from...
unremunerative, unremunerating, unremunerated, corselet, nosegay, inconsequent, insidious, peeress, defection, bower, expatiate, execrable and 2 more...
-
the armourer
Armour and weapons, and the occasional soldier.
gauntlet, vambrace, ballista, arbalest, trebuchet, sabre, epee, foil, flamberge, katana, dagger, switchblade and 80 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for corselet.
hernesheir Railway telegraphers' shorthand for "You have our consent". --US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906. Jan 21, 2013