1. a woman having intellectual or literary interests
Usage: often dated; sometimes derogatory

Examples

• She was dismissed as a bluestocking by those who preferred less scholarly women.
• The 18th-century bluestockings gathered regularly to discuss literature and philosophy.
• Her reputation as a bluestocking made her popular in academic circles.
• The term bluestocking originally referred to members of intellectual salons.
• Some viewed her extensive library as proof she was a bluestocking.
• The bluestocking movement encouraged women’s education and literary pursuits.