gamine
(gaˈmin)
[Fr.]
A female gamin; an attractively pert, mischievous or elfish girl or young woman, usually small and slim. Also attrib. or quasi-adj.
| 1899 C. Scott Drama of Yesterday II. 243 A veritable gamine, there is no other word which so thoroughly expresses her. 1921 Glasgow Herald 23 Apr. 4 The ‘Coquette’ is an unscrupulous milliner's assistant, a regular ‘gamine’, who plays off a lover against a husband. 1925 D. H. Lawrence St. Mawr 8 He was fascinated by Lou's quaint aplomb..her gamine knowingness. 1957 ‘D. Rutherford’ Long Echo vii. 131 The actress..who had lately adopted the gamine style of hair-cut. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xxvi. 250 The puckish gamine who, alas, sometimes enjoyed teasing and tormenting him. |