bluestocking

Meaning

Noun

• A scholarly, literary or cultured woman.
• A member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society.

Origin

• Originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society led by Elizabeth Montagu on the Parisian model.
• None of the ladies wore blue stockings. Instead, Benjamin Stillingfleet is said to be the first Blue Stocking. He was not rich enough to have the proper formal dress, which included black silk stockings and so he attended in everyday blue worsted stockings.