chemisette


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chem·i·sette

 (shĕm′ĭ-zĕt′)
n.
1. A short sleeveless bodice, formerly worn by women.
2. A blouse front formerly worn by women; a dickey.

[French, diminutive of chemise, shirt, from Old French; see chemise.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chemisette

(ˌʃɛmɪˈzɛt)
n
(Clothing & Fashion) an underbodice of lawn, lace, etc, worn to fill in a low-cut dress
[C19: from French, diminutive of chemise]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

chem•i•sette

(ˌʃɛm əˈzɛt)

n.
a woman's garment of linen, lace, or the like, worn, in the Victorian era, over a low-cut bodice to cover the neck and breast.
[1800–10; < French]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in classic literature ?
In the centre of this enchanted garden Madame Nilsson, in white cashmere slashed with pale blue satin, a reticule dangling from a blue girdle, and large yellow braids carefully disposed on each side of her muslin chemisette, listened with downcast eyes to M.
But, my dear, suppose you wear a chemisette next time, if you haven't authority enough over him to prevent his doing it again!
Lecount; they were tenderly interested in everything she looked at -- in Magdalen, in the toad on the rock-work, in the back-yard view from the window; in her own plump fair hands, -- which she rubbed softly one over the other while she spoke; in her own pretty cambric chemisette, which she had a habit of looking at complacently while she listened to others.
She wore a white muslin dress, a rose- colored sash, and rose-colored ribbons in the pretty cap on her head; her chemisette was moulded so deliciously by her shoulders and the loveliest rounded contours, that the sight of her awakened an irresistible desire of possession in the depths of the heart.
From the length of the veil which fell from their pointed coif, twined with pearls, to their heels, from the fineness of the embroidered chemisette which covered their shoulders and allowed a glimpse, according to the pleasing custom of the time, of the swell of their fair virgin bosoms, from the opulence of their under-petticoats still more precious than their overdress (marvellous refinement), from the gauze, the silk, the velvet, with which all this was composed, and, above all, from the whiteness of their hands, which certified to their leisure and idleness, it was easy to divine they were noble and wealthy heiresses.
She was as heroic and immovable in her high-necked chemisette as a sentry in his box.
She wore a gown of cambric, covered with narrow pink stripes, and cut low at the throat, so as to display a muslin chemisette. Shyness and timidity had brought the color to a face which had nothing very remarkable about it save a certain flatness of feature which called to mind the Cossack and Russian countenances that since the disasters of 1814 have unfortunately come to be so widely known in France.
A transparent chemisette, of the same stuff as the head-dress, descends as far as the waist, covering, but not concealing, a bosom that has never been imprisoned in stays.
For wear as a day dress on the occasion of the wedding, a lace chemisette filled in the very low NECKLINE, the cut of which would allow the gown to be worn after the wedding as an evening gown.
The two-piece ensemble includes a jacket worn over a chemise, a sleeveless slip; a collar attached to a chemisette that ties around the neck, white sleeves, a corset, drawers, a skirt and mitts (gloves without fingers).
A purse in Borsetta da Donna (Woman's Handbag), 1969, suggests a towering structure, while Chemisette Verte (Green Shirt), 1967, underscores a different element of the images' architecture: The sand incorporated into the work's acrylic surface confers a very real rasp to its fabric.