improvers

An enlargement from a drawing by Walter Crane was shown as illustrating the principles of artistic and natural costume -- costume which permitted the waist to be the normal size, and allowed the drapery to fall in natural folds -- costume which knew nothing of pleats and flounces, stays and "improvers" -- costume which was very symbolization and embodiment of womanly grace and modesty.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883 Various

Besides the lightweights there were a few young fellows called improvers, who were also employed because they were cheap.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell 1890

Both have been described as the improvers of their respective engines; but, as to all that is admirable in their structure or vast in their utility, they are rather entitled to be described as their Inventors.

Lives of the Engineers The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson Samuel Smiles 1858

Rudyard Kipling spent the second half of his life at Bateman's, his solid Jacobean home in the Weald which had been 'untouched and unfaked' by Victorian 'improvers'

Weatherwatch 2011

Even during the patent term, subsequent "improvers" get their own rights and can bargain with the original patent holder to share the profits.

The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind James Boyle

The garments, Teddy noticed, of the ladies were rather limited in dimensions; but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in style, all the dresses being provided with those "improvers" of late fashion in

Teddy The Story of a Little Pickle

Girálda tower, 346-348; palace, El Kasar, 349-351; royal "improvers" of Moorish work, 350; capital of Charles V.,

Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond Budgett Meakin 1886

Then, between the church and the heavy Altieri palace which the "improvers" had not dared to demolish, the street became narrower, and one entered into cold, damp shade.

The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Complete ��mile Zola 1871

Then, between the church and the heavy Altieri palace which the "improvers" had not dared to demolish, the street became narrower, and one entered into cold, damp shade.

The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Volume 1 ��mile Zola 1871

Then, between the church and the heavy Altieri palace which the "improvers" had not dared to demolish, the street became narrower, and one entered into cold, damp shade.

The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete Lourdes, Rome and Paris ��mile Zola 1871