Obs. [French rendering of Eng. BLUE-STOCKING, q.v.] A ‘blue-stocking,’ a literary lady.

1

1787.  Han. More, Bas Bleu, 7.

        Or how Aspasia’s parties shone,
The first Bas-bleu at Athens known.

2

1808.  Miss Talbot’s Lett., Introd. p. xv. The appellation which the company that assembled at her [Mrs. Vesey’s] house acquired of the Bas bleu.

3

1821.  Byron, Juan, IV. cxii. (MS. reading), By measuring the intensity of blue; I’ll back a a London bas against Peru.

4