corsage
[kawr-sahzh]
- a small bouquet worn at the waist, on the shoulder, on the wrist, etc., by a woman.
- the body or waist of a dress; bodice.
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Origin of corsage
1475–85; < Middle French: bodily shape (later: bust, bodice, corsage), equivalent to cors body (< Latin corpus) + -age -age
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
potwreathgarlandvasenosegayposyfestoonsprayboutonnierebuttonholecorsageleiflowersentimentbouquetblossomversemottoExamples from the Web for corsage
Contemporary Examples
Instead of a corsage, he brought me a plastic duck he'd stolen from a Chi Chi's restaurant.
Historical Examples
Then from inside her corsage she brought out and held to Sidney a letter.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The corsage was then put on and—wonderful to relate—it fitted her to perfection.
The Masked BridalMrs. Georgie Sheldon
And compelled to slip back to the ballroom, she crushed the note into her corsage.
The Golden FaceWilliam Le Queux
Hastily she thrust the message in her corsage and quietly left the room.
The Slave of SilenceFred M. White
The gypsy's corsage slipped through his hands like the skin of an eel.
Notre-Dame de ParisVictor Hugo
corsage
- a flower or small bunch of flowers worn pinned to the lapel, bosom, etc, or sometimes carried by women
- the bodice of a dress
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French, from cors body, from Latin corpus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for corsage
n.
late 15c., "size of the body," from Old French cors "body" (see corpse); the meaning "body of a woman's dress, bodice" is from 1818 in fashion plates translated from French; 1843 in a clearly English context. Sense of "a bouquet worn on the bodice" is 1911, American English, apparently from French bouquet de corsage "bouquet of the bodice."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper