English

Noun

grisette ‎(plural grisettes)

1. A French girl or young married woman of the lower class; especially, a young working-class woman of perceived easy morals.
   • 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, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 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.

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