milliner

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who designs, makes, or sells women's hats

   The milliner shaped the felt hat by hand and finished it with a silk ribbon.

2. 2
   noun

   historically, a dealer in fashionable clothing, accessories, and luxury goods

   The eighteenth-century milliner stocked ribbons, gloves, lace, and imported ornaments.

From late Middle English Milener or Milaner, originally 'a person from Milan' and then a merchant selling fashionable goods imported from that city. The trade gradually specialized in women's hats, giving milliner its modern occupational sense.

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