Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A close-fitting undergarment, often reinforced by stays, worn to support and shape the waistline, hips, and breasts.
- n. A medieval outer garment, especially a laced jacket or bodice.
- v. To enclose in or as if in a corset.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In the middle ages, a close-fitting body-garment. The term seems to have been always applied to a garment having skirts and sleeves, but may have been used for the upper part, or what might be called the bodice of such garments. In this sense also
corse . - n. A similar garment stuffed and quilted to form a garment of fence; a piece of armor, similar to the gambeson, worn by crossbowmen and foot-soldiers about 1475.
- n. A shaped, close-fitting body or waist, usually made of quilted satin jean, stiffened by strips of steel or whalebone, and so designed as to admit of tightening by lacing, worn chiefly by women to give shape and support to the figure; stays. Often in plural, corsets.
- To inclose in a corset.
Wiktionary
- n. A woman's foundation garment, reinforced with stays, that supports the waistline, hips and bust.
- v. To enclose in a corset; to wear a corset.
- v. To restrict or confine.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. In the Middle Ages, a gown or basque of which the body was close fitting, worn by both men and women.
- n. An article of dress inclosing the chest and waist worn (chiefly by women) to support the body or to modify its shape; stays.
- v. To inclose in corsets.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a woman's close-fitting foundation garment
- v. dress with a corset
Etymologies
- Middle English, bodice, from Old French, diminutive of cors, body, from Latin corpus; see kwrep- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“I mean, seriously -- a duck in a corset is a duck with its wings bound to its sides and its feet smooshed to its belly.”
“But a real custom made overbust corset is an expensive thing.”
“The corset is by Mayfaire Moon, and the hat is by ViolentBelle.”
“A corset is not sexy principally because it emphasizes a woman's secondary sexual characteristics.”
“A corset is sexy because it emphasizes the differences between a woman and a man -- where "man" should be read in the deprecated meaning of "human being.”
“THe corset is often blamed for causing the death of every Victorian woman that ever lived, but not everyone wore them.”
“Maybe they are so angry because their corset is too tight, or was not fitted right.”
“50 Mrs. Trollope, writing in 1832, tells of a young German gentleman of perfectly good manners who offended one of the principal families by having pronounced the word corset before the ladies of it.”
Chapter 4. American and English Today. 5. Expletives and Forbidden Words
“A young German gentleman of perfectly good manners, once came to me greatly chagrined at having offended one of the principal families in the neighbourhood, by having pronounced the word corset before the ladies of it.”
“Before that, there was the horribly uncomfortable and unhealthy corset, also invented by a woman (the invention of the corset is attributed to Catherine de Médicis, wife of King Henri II of France.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘corset’.
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Fads
With bows of great respect to Connie Willis, author of "Bellwether" and other wonderful books.
Hula-Hoop, bungee-jumping, hair-bobbing, pogs, jitterbug, jogging, mesmerism, Ouija board, miniature golf, The Old Curiosity..., Harry Potter, line dancing and 271 more...
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Open List: Body (Re)Shapers Inc.
List of terms for products and paraphernalia by which humans attempt to change the form of their bodies into forms acceptable and pleasing to societies' norms.
corset, girdle, shapesuit, the secret hug, panty girdle, I-can't-can't-bel..., You'd never-know-..., foundations, all-in-ones, smoothers, camibockers, Old Ironsides and 14 more...
bilby "Instead of a stable pyramid, then, think of an expanded yet still exhausted service taking on a more unstable, hourglass shape: heavy at the top with long-serving colonels and generals, heavy at the bottom with 'green' privates and lieutenants, but corseted at its essential core due to shortages of experienced platoon sergeants and battle-hardened company and battalion commanders."
- William Astore, They’re Wasted: The Price of Pushing Our Troops Too Far, tomdispatch.com, 16 Dec 2009. Dec 16, 2009
asativum Corset isn't very comfortable for the wearer. Sep 8, 2009