Dictionary

Catherinette en · NOUN

Etymology

From the French.

Meanings

1. 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.
   • 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. 1929, Collier's - Volume 84, page lxiv:
   • For these pitiable spinsters, a Catherinette is arranged; this is a relic, I think, of the old hiring and marriage fairs of the 19th century. 2004, New Statesman - Volume 133, Issues 4708-4718, page 76:
   • The queens of the day are the Catherinettes, the unmarried girls who will celebrate their twenty-fifth birthday within the next twelve months. 1948, Joseph Wechsberg, Sweet and Sour, page 97:
   • Every Catherinette has received, by the first post, a Valentine card, with midget mob-cap and the pretty, doleful ribbons stuck on. 1923, The Living Age - Volume 316, page 116:
   • Today Catherinettes still deck the statue of their patron saint in the church of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris, where a special Mass for Catherinettes has been said since November 25, 1925. 1964, Réalités - Issues 158-169, page 10:
   • In addition Catherinettes send each other postcards. The hats worn by the Catherinettes are made by their friends and are traditionally colored either yellow, denoting faith, or green, representing wisdom, and are supposed to be worn all day long in the manner of a crown. In the evening of St. Catherine's Day Catherinettes are treated to a meal, ball, or party by their friends. 2016, Victoria Williams, Celebrating Life Customs around the World, →ISBN:

Forms