bluestocking
noun
[ ˈbluːstɒkɪŋ ]
• an intellectual or literary woman.
• "a Victorian bluestocking"
Origin:
late 17th century: originally used to describe a man wearing blue worsted (instead of formal black silk) stockings; extended to mean ‘in informal dress’. Later the term denoted a person who attended the literary assemblies held ( c. 1750) by three London society ladies, where some of the men favoured less formal dress. The women who attended became known as blue-stocking ladies or blue-stockingers .
