mannequin
pronunciation
How to pronounce mannequin in British English:
UK [ˈmænɪkɪn]
How to pronounce mannequin in American English:
US [ˈmænɪkɪn]
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- Noun:
- a woman who wears clothes to display fashions
- a life-size dummy used to display clothes
Word Origin
- mannequin
- mannequin: see man
- mannequin (n.)
- 1902, "model to display clothes," from French mannequin (15c.), from Dutch manneken (see manikin). A French form of the same word that yielded manikin, and sometimes mannequin was used in English in a sense "artificial man" (especially in translations of Hugo). Originally of persons, in a sense where we might use "model." A mannequin is a good-looking, admirably formed young lady, whose mission is to dress herself in her employer's latest "creations," and to impart to them the grace which only perfect forms can give. Her grammar may be bad, and her temper worse, but she must have the chic the Parisienne possesses, no matter whether she hails from the aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain or from the Faubourg Montmartre. ["The Bystander," Aug. 15, 1906] Later (by 1939) of artificial model figures to display clothing.
Example
- 1. She was too fat to be a mannequin .
- 2. The mannequin was from when I was at art school and I had it recovered in a lovely woven pink and white fabric .
- 3. Fulla , for example , is a popular slimline mannequin with a headscarf manufactured for the muslim world .
- 4. He thought he saw a mannequin sprawled on the floor , until he noticed a splotch of blood by its ear .
- 5. A window dresser in a department store feels a strange attraction to a mannequin in the display .