catherinette
Collocations
5ADJ.
received, soon, unmarried
VERB + CATHERINETTE
became, elects, hold, shop
CATHERINETTE + NOUN
girl
PREP.
in
ADV.
once, only
Definitions
noun
Alternative form of Catherinette.
And then again, on 25 November, Saint Catherine's Day (Saint Catherine is of course the patron saint of unmarried women), the done thing was to get hold of a catherinette, an unmarried girl of twenty-five or over, to drag her of to the rue de Cléry, to borrow a stepladder from the bistro opposite the statuse of Saint Catherine (they were quite used to lending it!), and get the girl to climb up and offer the statue a bunch of flowers you'd thoughtfully bought beforehand, giggling the while.
If no marriage had been concluded by the age of twenty-five, the young woman became a "catherinette" and soon a spinster.
noun
An unmarried woman over the age of 25 who lives in a country that celebrates the festival of Saint Catherine's Day for such women.
Every Catherinette has received, by the first post, a Valentine card, with midget mob-cap and the pretty, doleful ribbons stuck on.
Each shop elects a Catherinette, a model or designer or simple seamstress, unmarried and twenty-five years of age. I was the Catherinette of a shop where I worked.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
6And then again, on 25 November, Saint Catherine's Day (Saint Catherine is of course the patron saint of unmarried women), the done thing was to get hold of a catherinette, an unmarried girl of twenty-
WiktionaryIf no marriage had been concluded by the age of twenty-five, the young woman became a "catherinette" and soon a spinster.
WiktionaryObviously a girl can be a catherinette only once in her lifetime; it's always beautiful and a little sad, like one's first love.
WiktionaryEvery Catherinette has received, by the first post, a Valentine card, with midget mob-cap and the pretty, doleful ribbons stuck on.
WiktionaryEach shop elects a Catherinette, a model or designer or simple seamstress, unmarried and twenty-five years of age. I was the Catherinette of a shop where I worked.
WiktionaryThe queens of the day are the Catherinettes, the unmarried girls who will celebrate their twenty-fifth birthday within the next twelve months.
Wiktionary