lingerie
[lahn-zhuh-rey, lan-zhuh-ree, -juh-; French lanzhuh-ree]
- underwear, sleepwear, and other items of intimate apparel worn by women.
- Archaic. linen goods in general.
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- having the qualities of lingerie; lacy or frilly.
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Origin of lingerie
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for lingerie
Contemporary Examples
The married Texas Republican was photographed in ducky pajamas next to a lingerie model at a local bar in May 2009.
That may well be the case but few people inside the show at Earls Court seemed to be talking about the lingerie.
In between a female sex shop and trendy boutiques is a nondescript store selling all manner of bras, corsets, and other lingerie.
Lingerie—once so scandalous, erotic—was worse than taboo, it was passé.
He dons kerchiefs and wigs, housedresses and lingerie, but his transformation stops there.
Historical Examples
Beneath it was lingerie of the kind which, it is said, may be drawn through a ring.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
The lingerie was of the best, and the seamstress was engaged on it for many weeks.
The Promised LandMary Antin
There were boxes of gloves, boxes of silk stockings, dainty bundles of lingerie.
Rich Man, Poor ManMaximilian Foster
French lingerie is the sign and symbol of French femininity.
In Vanity FairEleanor Hoyt Brainerd
The letter wandered on into a maze of lingerie and millinery and silk petticoats.
The Literary SenseE. Nesbit
lingerie
- women's underwear and nightwear
- archaic linen goods collectively
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Word Origin
C19: from French, from linge, from Latin līneus linen, from līnum flax
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 lingerie
n.
1835 (but not in widespread use until 1852), from French lingerie "things made of linen," also "laundry room, linen shop" (15c.), from Old French linge "linen" (12c.), from Latin lineus (adj.) "of linen," from linum "flax, linen" (see linen). Originally introduced in English as a euphemism for scandalous under-linen.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper