majorette

[mey-juh-ret]

noun

drum majorette.

Origin of majorette

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45; (drum) major + -ette

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for majorette

majorette

noun

See drum majorette

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

Word Origin and History for majorette

"baton-twirler," 1941, short for drum-majorette (1938), fem. of drum-major (1590s).

The perfect majorette is a pert, shapely, smiling extrovert, who loves big, noisy crowds and knows how to make those crowds love her. ["Life" magazine, Oct. 10, 1938]

(The article notes that the activity "has been going on for about six years now").