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

In a corner of the room lay his helmet and sword, and he himself was in half-mail, wearing a Milanese corselet, on which was emblazoned the red dragon of his house.

From The Honour of Savelli A Romance by Levett-Yeats, S. (Sidney)

And still they had seen no moving thing upon the great round breast of the sea that gleamed in its corselet of brass plates under a brazen sun.

From Where the Pavement Ends by Russell, John

His own horses he ordered now to be unsaddled, and casting off his corselet, gave himself up to repose for the evening.

From Henry of Guise; (Vol. II of 3) or, The States of Blois by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)

Herodotus describes 201 the corselet given by Amasis king of Egypt to the Minerva of Lindus and how it was inwoven or embroidered with gold.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various

Related Words

• bodice
• underwear