The 1696 parable about the dangers of middle-class women dressing like ‘persons of quality’ has its roots in the more or less endemic anxiety that prostitutes' ‘excellent Art… can easily turn a Sempstress into a waiting Gentlewoman.’
Young Misses will be improved in Reading, Grammar, and Writing; and particular attention will be paid such whose abilities entitle them to become complete sempstresses.
Definition of sempstress in US English:
sempstress
nounˈsɛm(p)strəsˈsem(p)strəs
another term for seamstress
Example sentencesExamples
Young Misses will be improved in Reading, Grammar, and Writing; and particular attention will be paid such whose abilities entitle them to become complete sempstresses.
The 1696 parable about the dangers of middle-class women dressing like ‘persons of quality’ has its roots in the more or less endemic anxiety that prostitutes' ‘excellent Art… can easily turn a Sempstress into a waiting Gentlewoman.’