blousey
Masa
'He was wearing a long overcoat, blousey, loose clothing underneath.
The kind of thing we watch for."
'So, there's a profile,' I say, 'for shoplifters?'
(S.Martini)
context: Exchange in a court trial. The prosecutor is questioning
a security guard as a witness.
question: about the meaning of "blousey".
A "Urban Dictionary" says the word is an adjective,
referring to a hot babe wearing a blouse.
I couldn't yet get it from this explanation.
It must be a kind of dressing not usually worn by men, but I don't know how.
Leslie Danks
In this context it clearly means "loose-fitting", though I don't recall
seeing this usage before. Presumably the allusion is to a blouse, which is
normally a garment for women and therefore more spacious than the
corresponding garment for men. The advantage for shop-lifters is that they
can place in it the things they have stolen without this being obvious to
the casual observer. The "poacher's pocket", located unobtrusively inside a
coat, is a similar device, used for concealing the occasional illicitly
acquired pheasant and similar.
--
Les
(BrE)
Horace LaBadie
<635ecc9f-702e-47af...@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com
>,
Masa <aut...@infoseek.jp> wrote:
It applies to clothing of all kinds, meaning that it hangs loose from
the body. In this case, the looseness is to allow the concealment of
stolen items.
tony cooper
wrote:
"Blousey" is used to mean loose-fitting above but tucked in below.
Soldiers "blouse" their trousers by tucking them in their boots with
the part of the trouser leg above the boot puffed out. A shirt can be
bloused by tucking it in the waistband but leaving it loosely-fitting
above the waist.
A shoplifter could employ the style because the loose part above the
waist would allow items to be stuffed in, but the tucked-in waist
would stop the items from falling out.
"Blousey" is a variation of the verb "blouse" meaning –verb (used with
object) 5. to dispose the material of a garment in loose folds, as
trouser legs over the tops of boots.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Athel Cornish-Bowden
I've usually come across "blousy" (spelt like that, but I suppose
"blousey" is a reasonable spelling also) referring to a woman and not
to her clothes (though it does of course derive from her clothes). I
wouldn't expect it to be applied to the sort of woman who'd be called a
"hot babe" by the sort of people who'd use such an unattractive
expression. On the contrary, it applies to a woman of at least 40 or
50 who wears rather loose clothes.
However, in the context of your quotation I'd understand it as a word
made up on the spur of the moment to mean "like a blouse".
--
athel
Horace LaBadie
Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
> On 2011-08-13 17:32:56 +0200, Masa said:
>
> > Let me ask a question about the following sentence from a novel.
> >
> > 'He was wearing a long overcoat, blousey, loose clothing underneath.
> > The kind of thing we watch for."
> > 'So, there's a profile,' I say, 'for shoplifters?'
> > (S.Martini)
> >
> > context: Exchange in a court trial. The prosecutor is questioning
> > a security guard as a witness.
> >
> > question: about the meaning of "blousey".
> > A "Urban Dictionary" says the word is an adjective,
> > referring to a hot babe wearing a blouse.
> > I couldn't yet get it from this explanation.
> > It must be a kind of dressing not usually worn by men, but I don't know how.
>
> I've usually come across "blousy" (spelt like that, but I suppose
> "blousey" is a reasonable spelling also) referring to a woman and not
> to her clothes (though it does of course derive from her clothes). I
> wouldn't expect it to be applied to the sort of woman who'd be called a
> "hot babe" by the sort of people who'd use such an unattractive
> expression. On the contrary, it applies to a woman of at least 40 or
> 50 who wears rather loose clothes.
Usually, the word when applied to a woman is "blowzy" or "blowszy" or
some variant spelling, meaning coarse, unrefined, unkempt.
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Yes.I felt I was missing something in my definition. "Unkempt" is
probably the essential characteristic.
--
athel
Horace LaBadie
Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
Disheveled would be another term. I suspect that it is related to
"blown" as it is applied to flowers that have aged beyond their prime.
tony cooper
<acor...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
Not to me. Dolly Parton comes to mind. Blowsy she is, but not
unkempt. Oddly, some "big, blowsy styles...of Dolly Parton wines"
find mention in connection with Australians. Top-heavy English
cupcakes are linked with blowsy Dolly.
Big breasts, and an expanse of display, is essential to blowsy, but
the woman has to come across as a bit coarse or unrefined.
It's not necessarily a negative observation. Dolly Parton is blowsy,
but comes across as a very pleasant and down-to-earth person.
Helena Bonham Carter's character in "Toast" is described as blowsy in:
http://www.cynthiacitron.com/www.cynthiacitron.com/Reviews/Entries/2011/6/15_FROM_BRITAIN_WITH_LOVE__TOAST.html
Unkempt? Nah. Just over-blown as roses can be over-blown and
described as "blowsy".
Here's me hoping that this won't reinforce Petey's view of me as
lustful.
Irwell
I prefer blousy women to dowdy women.
CDB
> Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
>> Horace LaBadie said:
insist on adding "red-faced", and say that the word's origin is
"blowse", a female beggar or beggar's companion. Presumable the Dolly
Parton version of "blousey" (likely spelled with an "e" in the OP
selection to differentiate it from the other kind) is from the loose
peasant garment, and not at all related, although who knows? Both
words are of obscure origin.
>>
"Having a coarsely ruddy and bloated appearance.
Disheveled and frowzy; unkempt: blowzy hair.
ETYMOLOGY:
From obsolete blowze, beggar woman, slattern"
>>
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/blowzy