Dictionary

needle-girl en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (historical) A girl or young woman who is employed doing sewing and simple embroidery.
   • Indeed I soon, found that the poor needle-girl was not the orphan with property. 1856, Green Peas Picked From the Patch of Invisible Green Esq., page 133:
   • Her complexion is pure and warm, though pale, as if from too close confinement; for I have now no doubt that she is a needle-girl. 1848, Joseph Holt Ingraham, Jennette Alison; Or, The Young Strawberry Girl:
   • There is the needle-girl, with her helplessness, her nerveless imbecility, her utter ignorance, her dolorous prettiness, her thriftless marriage, her half-starved children dying about her like flies. 2013, Pierre Coustillas, Collin Partridge, George Gissing: The Critical Heritage, →ISBN, page 143:

Forms