minaudière

plural minaudières

1. obsoleteA woman who is exaggeratedly affected or coquettish.First known use 18th–19th c.

   The Saxon ladies reſemble the Auſtrian no more, than the Chineſe do thoſe of London; they are very genteelly dreſſed after the Engliſh and French modes, and have, generally, pretty faces, but they are the moſt determined Minaudieres in the whole world.

   1716 December 2, M[ar]y W[ortle]y M[ontagu]e, “Letter XV. To the Countess of ——. Leipzig, Nov. 21, O.S. 1716.”, in Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M——y W———y M———e: … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. de Hondt, in the Strand, published 1763, →OCLC, page 85

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   Not the English of the salons of Paris or London, or the English of Lady B———'s drawing-room, or of Lady C———'s coterie, or the language talked at D——— Castle, or the minaudière phrases used in certain societies; but the language of truth: […]

   1850, [Marianne Talbot?], “Past. Chapter I.”, in Past, Present, and Future. … In Two Volumes., volume I, London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Stationers' Hall Court, →OCLC, page 10

2. A type of formal, decorative women's clutch bag without handles or a strap.First known use 20th c.

   The collection here includes a minaudiere with a sapphire clasp; a gold basket-bag, much like the ones French school children carry; a cigarette case emblazoned with a single sapphire; a lipstick case capped with another sapphire; a round compact with a sapphire imbedded in the center of the lid.

   1957, Harper’s Bazaar, volume XC, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corp., →OCLC, page 145

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   Another gift—the Minaudiere—from Paris, costly because it is wrought from gold, or silver, is a flat case with all those requisites which ensure the feminine peace of mind on all elaborate or special occasions—even to a lighter for those who smoke—and alternately a case for those who do not—fitted with other delightful accessories.

   1936, The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, volume LXXXIII, London: Ward, Lock and Bowden, →OCLC, page 166, column 1