‖ boudoir
(budwar)
[a. F. boudoir lit. ‘a place to sulk in’, f. bouder to pout, sulk.]
a. A small elegantly-furnished room, where a lady may retire to be alone, or to receive her intimate friends. Formerly sometimes applied to a man's private apartment.
| 1781 Hayley Tri. Temper ii. 130 As the French boudoir to the Gothic tower, Such is the peer, whom fashion much admires, Compar'd in person to his ancient sires. 1785 Cowper Let. to J. Hill 25 June, I write in a nook that I call my boudoir. 1786 J. Adams Diary Wks. 1851 III. 405 In what he calls his boudoir—a little room between his library and drawing-room. 1851 Kingsley Yeast ii. 24 Argemone was busy in her boudoir (too often a true boudoir to her). 1886 Morley Crit. Misc. I. 31 The paltry affairs of the boudoir and the ante-chamber. |
b. transf. The occupants of a boudoir.
| a 1830 Hazlitt Vulgarity, The callous insensibility of the drawing room and boudoir. |
c. attrib.
| 1803 Lett. Miss Riversdale III. 92 The duke had fitted up these pretty little boudoir recesses. 1858 Bagehot Coll. Works (1965) II. 50 The Lady of the Lake is a sort of boudoir ballad. 1903 Daily Chron. 17 Jan. 8/4 A dressing gown..is sometimes glorified..into a compromise between a dressing gown and a teagown, and then is known as a boudoir gown. 1912 in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) xxii. 258, 2 boudoir caps, at 18/9. 1914 Wyndham Lewis Let. 2 Apr. (1963) 59 The boudoir suggestiveness and Yellow Book Gallicisms. 1937 M. Sharp Nutmeg Tree vii. 78 Mrs. Packett was sitting up in bed wearing a very smart boudoir-cap. 1966 Cox Illustr. Dict. Hairdressing & Wigmaking 23/2 Boudoir helmet, a decorated hair net of silk or other suitable material for wear by a woman in her boudoir to keep her hair in position during her toilet activity. |
Hence boudoiˈresque a. [see -esque], of the kind appropriate to a boudoir. ˈboudoirize v. [see -ize], to sit in or frequent a boudoir.
| 1880 Mrs. C. Reade Brown Hand & White II. iii. 59 How fond modern French painters seem to be of boudoiresque humanity. 1883 Harper's Mag. July 321/1 ‘It is a sweet hour’, said Glorvina..‘It is a boudoirising hour’, said I. |