grisette

English edit

La Grisette (sense 1) by Constantin Guys

Grisette (sense 3) Blond beer bottle, by St-Feuillien

A grisette (Amanita vaginata, sense 2) near Biggesee, Sauerland, Germany

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French grisette, from gris (“grey”) +‎ -ette, named after the color of the fabric associated with low value or bad quality.

Pronunciation edit

(UK) IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪˈzɛt/
Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun edit

grisette (plural grisettes)

A (chiefly French) girl or young married woman of the lower class; especially, a young working-class woman of perceived easy morals.
Alternative form: grizette
- 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 263:
  ‘What a fuss is here, indeed, about a little grisette: why, one would think Beresford had carried off an heiress.’
- 1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt:
  The anticipations of the shopkeeper were realized, and his rooms soon became notorious through the charms of the sprightly grisette.
- 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1015:
  he enjoyed the immense luxury not only of lovemaking but also of sleeping and drowsing beside this gentle and composed and somewhat melancholy woman, who was not a fille de joie in the professional sense but more like a grisette.
The grisette amanita (Amanita vaginata), an edible mushroom in the amanita family.
A variety of low-alcohol beer that is light in body, with a noticeable tartness similar to other farmhouse ales.
- 2004, Phil Markowski, Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the European Tradition, Brewers Publications, →ISBN:
  Oral accounts of those who remember the old grisettes say they were low-alcohol, light-bodied, saison-like golden ales of no great distinction.
- 2018, Suzanne Baltsar, Trouble Brewing, Gallery Books, →ISBN, pages 20–21:
  She talked animatedly, with her hands, and her excitement about something as boring as the differences between a saison and a grisette was contagious.
- 2019, Douglas Trattner, Moon Cleveland, Avalon Travel, →ISBN:
  Largely grounded in European classics, the ever-changing roster of taps cycles through grisettes, altbiers, kölsches, and saisons, but also trots out “beastly” concoctions like Imperial IPAs as well.

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