corselet

American  

[kawr-suh-let, kawrs-lit] / ˌkɔr səˈlɛt, ˈkɔrs lɪt /

noun

1. Also corselette a woman's lightweight foundation garment combining a brassiere and girdle in one piece.

2. Armor. Also corslet

   1. a suit of light half armor or three-quarter armor of the 16th century or later.

   2. cuirass.

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corselet British  

/ ˈkɔːslɪt /

noun

1. Also spelt: corslet.  a piece of armour for the top part of the body

2. a one-piece foundation garment, usually combining a brassiere and a corset

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Etymology

Origin of corselet

1490–1500; < Middle French, equivalent to cors “bodice, body” + -elet -let

Example Sentences

Famed Choreographer Agnes de Mille, who danced the part first in 1938, turned up as Venus in droopy net stockings, ruffled corselet and a blonde wig suggesting Gorgeous George playing Lady Godiva.

From Time Magazine Archive

His trousers, after exhausting the ordinary number of buttons in front, prolonged themselves into a kind of corselet that drew attention to the slimness of his waist.

From The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett by MacKenzie, Compton

The something I guessed at once was a corselet, and it needed scarce another thought to apprise me that Dymphna's follower was not Van Tree at all, but a Spanish soldier!

From The Story of Francis Cludde by Weyman, Stanley John

Her whole mind was in a turmoil of thought, and every time the infamous letter crackled beneath her corselet, she shuddered as with fear.

From Petticoat Rule by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

The women wear a white chemise; over that a very small corselet, and over that a red jacket with blue and black velvet facings.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various

Related Words

• bodice
• underwear