connaisseuse

English

Alternative forms

• connoisseuse

Etymology

From French connaisseuse.

Noun

connaisseuse (plural connaisseuses)

1. female equivalent of connaisseur
   • 1857, “The Truffle-Hound”, in William Chambers, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, volume VI, London: W. & R. Chambers […] and […] Edinburgh, page 245:

     ‘It is true, your eminence; for I not only saw it, but ate of it myself.’ ‘At whose table?’ ‘At the Comtesse de la Ferté’s. When cut into slices, it filled the air with a delicious fragrance, and was veined and clouded like the richest marble!’ ‘Madame de la Ferté is a connaisseuse,’ observed Mazarin.

   • a. 1862, Theodore Winthrop, Edwin Brothertoft, 3rd edition, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1862, page 260:

     “You do look just like an angel, Miss Lucy,” Abby Dewitt asseverated, with the air of a connaisseuse in the article .

   • 1878 June, the Author of “Skeleton Keys,” &c., “Hunstead Priors”, in The Kentish Magazine: A Literary Monthly Miscellany for the County, number II, Maidstone: Burgiss-Brown, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., […], chapter IV (Filaments), page 90:

     Save these and one fair-sized palm in the centre, all the other plants are ferns in infinite variety, Mrs. St. John being a connaisseuse in that branch of horticulture.

   • 1888, Julian Corbett, “Kophetua the Thirteenth. A Romance.”, in Time: A Monthly Magazine of Current Topics, Literature, & Art, volume VIII, London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., […], XX (Players), page 613:

     “You are right, Bocco,” answered Frampa, with the air of a connaisseuse who does not praise lightly.

   • 1896 October, Tighe Hopkins, “Bicêtre”, in The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, volume LXIV, New York, N.Y.: E. R. Pelton, […], page 457:

     It was a declaration of much in little, and Marion, a connaisseuse of such speeches, absolved and accepted him with a kiss.

   • 1900, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Italian Cities, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, part II, page 264:

     She had Leonardo for her visitor, and Titian for her portrait painter, and, to her honor as a connaisseuse, she recognized the talent of a Correggio when a Bembo, with all his assumption of art knowledge, passed him by unheeding.

   • 1902, Charles Theodore Murray, Mlle. Fouchette, 3rd edition, Philadelphia, Pa., London: J. B. Lippincott Company, page 295:

     “Poor me! I never tasted any better,” laughed the girl, sipping the wine with the air of a connaisseuse.

   • 1911, Edward Legge, The Comedy & Tragedy of the Second Empire: Paris Society in the Sixties; Including Letters of Napoleon III., M. Pietri, and Comte de la Chapelle, and Portraits of the Period, London, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 354:

     Her Imperial Majesty is a connaisseuse in precious stones of every description, especially diamonds and emeralds, of which, as well as pearls, she still possesses a large collection.

   • 1921, E. M. Delafield [pen name; Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood], The Heel of Achilles, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 223:

     It was evidently essential that a counter-discovery should mitigate the publisher’s complacency, and sustain Lady Honoret’s reputation as a connaisseuse in the literary world.

   • 1938, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells Wells, Apropos of Dolores, London: Jonathan Cape, […], page 189:

     A lover ceases to be a lover; he is a technician, he is a violinist under the scrutiny of a connaisseuse.

   • 1972, Vision: The European Business Magazine, page 109:

     As connaisseuses in their own right—and not just buying for their menfolk—they would talk about cigars with me. […] I feel that connaisseurs are rediscovering the large but darker, stronger maduro.

   • 1975, Catherine Aird, Slight Mourning, Bantam Books, published 1982, →ISBN, page 1:

     Miss Cynthia Paterson considered herself something of a connaisseuse of a good funeral.

   • 2002, Barbara Hambly, Wet Grave, Random House Large Print, →ISBN, page 354:

     Rose, who had undoubtedly spent many nights listening to the chatter and tales of the girls under her care at the school—to say nothing of Chighizola’s widely-varying tales about how the old pirate happened to lose his nose—nodded with the air of a connaisseuse and said, “That’s a good one.”

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.nɛ.søz/ ~ /kɔ.ne.søz/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

connaisseuse f (plural connaisseuses)

1. female equivalent of connaisseur

Further reading

• “connaisseuse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.