Meaning & use
blue stocking
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountabledisapprovingold-fashioned
A woman who is thought to be more interested in books and learning than in fashion or social life, often used in a mocking way.
Grammar: Countable noun: you can say 'a blue stocking' or 'blue stockings'.
Patterns
- a blue stocking
- be called a blue stocking
- dismiss someone as a blue stocking
In the nineteenth century, a woman who preferred studying to parties might be called a blue stocking.
The character in the novel is a blue stocking who cares more about philosophy than romance.
He teased his sister by calling her a blue stocking, but she took it as a compliment.
Word forms
| plural | blue stockings |
|---|
Common combinations
- a blue stocking
- She was proud to be a blue stocking in a time when few women went to university.
- call someone a blue stocking
- He called her a blue stocking because she always had her nose in a book.
- dismiss someone as a blue stocking
- The critics dismissed her as a blue stocking and ignored her scientific work.
- blue-stocking society
- The blue-stocking society met every week to discuss literature and politics.
- a bit of a blue stocking
- My aunt is a bit of a blue stocking; she spends all her money on rare books.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bluestocking
- This is the same word written as one word; it is the more common spelling today.
- intellectual
- A neutral word for a person who thinks deeply; it does not carry the mocking or gendered tone of 'blue stocking'.
- bookworm
- Describes someone who reads a lot, but it is less specific about gender and less old-fashioned.
Word family
Commonly confused: blue stocking or bluestocking? blue stocking or blue-collar?
blue stocking vs bluestocking
This is just a different spelling of the same term; 'blue stocking' (two words) is also correct.
blue stocking vs blue-collar
This describes workers who do manual labor, not a scholarly woman; do not mix them up.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'blue stocking' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The term 'blue stocking' refers to a scholarly woman, so sentence B fits. Sentence A describes a literal stocking (clothing), which is not the idiom. Sentence C and D use 'blue stocking' for unrelated objects, which is not correct.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “blue stocking”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.