bas bleu

(bɑ blø)

n, pl bas bleus (bɑ blø)

a bluestocking; intellectual woman

[C18: from French translation of English bluestocking]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

bas bleu - a woman having literary or intellectual interests

bluestocking

adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Or, Poets, Publishers, and Bluestockings) by the German poet Annette von Droste-Hulshoff (1797-1848) featured "a fatal bluestocking from the good old days" called "Johanna von Austen." By the same token, it is less perplexing that the tastes and works of this bas bleu were depicted as being out of touch with pre-revolutionary German literary fashions.

Johanna von Austen, 'a fatal bluestocking from the good old days": Jane Austen, Madame de Stael, Annette von Droste-Hulshoff, and the woman artist

Although these fantastic novels portray ideal women, Gautier's image of Prascovie and Spirite conforms to his notion of "universal life" as the foundation of all women's intelligence in his review of Le bas bleu.

Gender and universal fluid in Theophile Gautier

Education also opened the doors to literary careers, to the dissatisfaction of many male and even female observers, who denounced the phenomenon of the bas bleu, while expressing the fear of creating, through education, a female version of the declasse.

From the Salon to the Schoolroom: Educating Bourgeois Girls in Nineteenth-Century France

These and the Bas Bleu fancy pants range, with decorative net ruffles, have all become mainstream through the Designers at Debenhams ranges.

Fancy Pants

Harry Wragg's 5 to 2 fav Bas Bleu (L Piggott) finishes five lengths away in third.

Racing: Hoofprints; GALLOPING BACK IN TIME

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