Merveilleuse

See also: merveilleuse and mèrveilleuse

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French Merveilleuse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɜːveɪˈjɜːz/

Noun

Merveilleuse (plural Merveilleuses)

1. (historical) A fashionable young Frenchwoman of the late 18th-century, characterized by extravagant dress sense and anti-revolutionary ideas.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 542:

     There were the mad fashions sported by the extraordinarily (by turns over- and under-) dressed Incroyables and Merveilleuses, the guzzling of champagne, and the ingestion of bountiful meals in smart restaurants (a recent invention).

   • 2007, Helen Constantine, translating Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons (1782), Penguin 2007, p. 111:

     You are the reason I arrived indecently late at Madame de Volanges's and had all the old ladies thinking I was a Merveilleuse.

   • 2006, Andrew Hussey, Paris: The Secret History, Penguin, published 2007, page 270:

     The female equivalents were called Merveilleuses and adopted Greek dress and espoused a neo-classical nostalgia.

French

Etymology

Noun use of feminine form of merveilleux ‘marvellous’.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁ.vɛ.jøz/, /mɛʁ.ve.jøz/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Merveilleuse f (plural Merveilleuses)

1. Merveilleuse