Word Origin late 17th century: originally used to describe a man wearing blue worsted (instead of formal white silk) stockings; extended to mean ‘in informal dress’. Later the term denoted a person who attended the literary assemblies held (c. 1750) by three London society ladies, where some of the men favoured less formal dress. The emphasis on the encouragement of female intellectuals in this circle led to the association of the term blue stocking (and its derivatives, e.g. blue-stockingers) specifically with the involvement of women in the intellectual world.
