Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A drawstring handbag or purse.
  • noun A reticle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A bag, originally of network, but later of any formation or material, carried by women in the hand or upon the arm, and answering the purpose of a pocket.
  • noun An attachment to a telescope, consisting of a network of lines ruled on glass or of fine fibers crossing each other.
  • noun Same as reticulum, 1.
  • noun [capitalized] In astronomy, same as reticulum, 6.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • A little bag, originally of network; a woman's workbag, or a little bag to be carried in the hand.
  • A system of wires or lines in the focus of a telescope or other instrument; a reticle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative form of reticle.
  • noun A small women's bag made of a woven net-like material.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a woman's drawstring handbag; usually made of net or beading or brocade; used in 18th and 19th centuries
  • noun a network of fine lines, dots, cross hairs, or wires in the focal plane of the eyepiece of an optical instrument

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French réticule, from Latin rēticulum, diminutive of rēte, net.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French réticule, from Latin reticulum.

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Examples

  • "I have received a dispatch," Mrs. Bundercombe announced, drawing a letter with pride from an article that I believe she called her reticule, "signed by the secretary of the Women's League of Freedom, asking me to address their members at a meeting to be held at Leeds to-night."

    An Amiable Charlatan 1906

  • Stuck to the bottom of the reticule was a small key.

    Laughing Bill Hyde and Other Stories Rex Ellingwood Beach 1913

  • In her reticule was the paper on which he had written the address of the Art Students 'League, and, as an afterthought, his own address.

    The Dark Star William Dodge Stevens 1899

  • What is called a reticule, which contains their pocket-handkerchief and work, is hanging by a gold chain to the arm, and is fringed with gold.

    RVABlogs 2008

  • You're asking this of Miss Snark who regularly writes 'gin pail' 'reticule' 'heaven forefend' and '23 skidoo'?

    Alas, poor Snarklings Miss Snark 2005

  • She always carried on the horn of her saddle a handbag, then called a "reticule," and in that she always brought us some little treat, most generally a cut off of a loaf of sugar, that used to be sold in the shape of a long loaf of bread.

    The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation 1905

  • _ Have I got to say something that "reticule" suggests?

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, December 22, 1920 Various 1898

  • She always carried on the horn of her saddle a handbag, then called a "reticule," and in that she always brought us some little treat, most generally a cut off of a loaf of sugar, that used to be sold in the shape of a long loaf of bread.

    The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation Carry Amelia Nation 1878

  • Tucked inside her reticule was another letter to Terence, while one of Anne Kingsley’s old dresses sat in her lap.

    Almost a Whisper Charlene Cross 1994

  • Tucked inside her reticule was another letter to Terence, while one of Anne Kingsley’s old dresses sat in her lap.

    Almost a Whisper Charlene Cross 1994

Comments

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  • See also octothorpe. The alternative spellings are reticulesign, reticulemark, reticulesymbol, reticuleglyph, reticulekey, reticule code, reticule character, and reticul.

    July 22, 2008