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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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bluestocking
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Derogatory term for an intellectual woman, deriving by a circuitous route from evenings organized by Mrs Montague and other ladies in London in the mid-18C. Their intention was to promote conversation in place of card games. One of their guests, Benjamin Stillingfleet, liked to come in informal clothes, wearing blue worsted stockings instead of black silk ones. The evenings were mocked therefore as 'bluestocking' occasions, and the name stuck somewhat unjustly to the high-minded ladies.
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