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grisette

American  
[gri-zet] / grɪˈzɛt /

noun

  1. a young French workingwoman.


grisette British  
/ ɡrɪˈzɛt /

noun

  1. (esp formerly) a French working-class girl, esp a pretty or flirtatious one

  2. an edible toadstool of the genus Amanita of broad-leaved and birch woods

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Etymology

Origin of grisette

1690–1700; < French, equivalent to gris gray ( see griseous) + -ette -ette; originally a cheap gray fabric, or dress made of such fabric, worn by young working women in the garment trade

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Anne Hathaway, who plays the fallen grisette Fantine, first saw the musical at age 8, when her mother appeared in a touring production.

From Slate • Dec. 24, 2012

You may, like Twain, have signally failed to track down a single grisette in Paris: "For three or four days I was constantly saying, 'Quick Fergusson, is that a grisette?' and he always said no."

From The Guardian • Mar. 5, 2011

The bell rang; I opened the door instantly: it was my grisette, in the same costume as on the day of our first meeting, and with a no less affable expression.

From Fr?d?rique; vol. 2 by Kock, Charles Paul de

Several days passed and I heard nothing of my grisette.

From Fr?d?rique; vol. 2 by Kock, Charles Paul de

THE crowd immediately gathered round the fainting grisette as she lay in the arms of our friend, forgetting, in their eagerness for this fresh excitement, the morbid spectacle on the slab.

From Mated from the Morgue A tale of the Second Empire by O'Shea, John Augustus

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