▪ I. corslet, corselet, n.
(ˈkɔːslɪt)
Also 6 corslete, -lait, -lett, corselette, 6–8 corcelet, 7 corpslet.
[a. F. corselet (16th c. in Littré), double dim. of cors body (cf. It. corsaletto, Sp. corselete, from Fr.).]
1. a. A piece of defensive armour covering the body.
| 1563 B. Googe Eglogs (Arb.) 121 All armed braue in Corsletes white. 1584 T. Hudson Judith i. (1613) 369 (D.) While th' Armorer..the sturdy steele doth beate, And makes thereof a corpslet or a jacke. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. State iv. xvii. 329 Surely a corslet is no canonicall coat for me. 1696 Bp. Patrick Comm. Ex. xxviii. (1697) 556 The ancient Habergions or Corslets..made of Leather and Linen. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 502 His hack'd and riven corslet. 1843 H. Ainsworth Tower Lond. (1864) 2 Polished corslets flashed in the sunbeams. 1859 Tennyson Idylls, Enid 1008 Geraint's [lance] Struck thro' the bulky bandit's corselet home. |
| fig. 1637 Rutherford Lett. cxliii. (1862) I. 339 The love of Christ hath a corslet of proof on it and arrows will not draw blood of it. |
† b. transf. A soldier armed with a corslet. Obs.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres ii. i. 18 How many armed Corslets, and vnarmed pikes. 1620 Thomas Lat. Dict., Primores..the pikemen or corslets. 1647–8 Sir C. Cotterell Davila's Hist. Fr. (1678) 528 La Fountaine-Martel and Agueville..sallied out..each with ten Firelocks, and twenty Corslets. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. Introd. 17 To levy certain horsemen, both demy-lances and corslets. |
2. a. A garment (usually tight-fitting) covering the body as distinct from the limbs.
| c 1500 Two Dandies in Furniv. Ballads fr. MSS. I. 456 Wyth corselettys of fyne veluet slyped Down to the hard kne. 1683 Brit. Spec. 92 [Cæsar] offered to Venus Genitrix..a Corslet of British Pearles. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 18 The women wear a petticoat, and a short corselet or jacket closely fitting their shapes. 1885 Globe 31 Jan. 7/4 Velvet corselet over a faille bodice, and sleeves embroidered to match. |
b. (Usu. in form corselette.) A woman's foundation garment, usually combining brassière and girdle in one piece.
| 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Jan. 3/7 (Advt.), Corselettes of strong brocade, side hooking with wide panels of elastic at sides. 1952 John o' London's 1 Aug. 736/3 A flesh wound..was caused by a bone in the corselette (lovely word) worn under her sarong. 1967 E. A. Gollschewsky in Coast to Coast 1965–6 91 Put on your new blue suit, Leonie... And your corselette, of course. |
3. Zool. That part of an insect which lies between the head and abdomen; the thorax. Also applied to an external structure on the thorax of some fishes, and to the mantle or pallium of a mollusc.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp, Corcelet, in natural history, that part of the fly class which is analogous in its situation to the breast in other animals..Some flies have a double corcelet. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. iii. ii. 501 [The butterfly has] three parts; the head, the corselet, and the body. 1834 M{supc}Murtie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 201 A soft corslet round the thorax, formed by scales larger and smoother than those on the rest of the body. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 711/2 The corslet occupies a part of the superior and posterior edge of the shell. 1839 Ibid. II. 380/2 It [the mantle] is here not unfrequently termed the corselet. 1848 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. vi. 312 The legs are represented too long, the corselet or thorax too narrow. |
4. Comb., as corslet-maker, corslet-making; † corslet-man, a soldier armed with a corslet.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. 69 Two thousand corslet-men. 1886 Sidgwick Hist. Ethics ii. §3. 30 Xenophon has recorded..a dialogue with a corslet-maker, in which Socrates..draws out the rationale of corslet-making. |
▪ II. ˈcorslet, v. rare—1.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To encircle with, or as with, a corslet.
| 1612 Two Noble Kinsmen i. i, When her arms, Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall..corslet thee. |