[f. SUFFRAGE sb. + -ETTE.] A female supporter of the cause of women’s political enfranchisement, esp. one of a violent or ‘militant’ type.
Attrib. uses, and derivatives such as suffragettish, -ism are frequent in newspapers.
1841. Northern Star, 7 Aug., 5/4. Notwithstanding the agitation of the doctrines of Teetotallers, Corn Law Repealers, Household Suffragettes, &c. &c.
1906. Daily Mail, 10 Jan. Mr. Balfour and the ‘Suffragettes.’… It was not surprising that Mr. Balfour should receive a deputation of the Suffragettes.
1907. Athenæum, 28 Sept., 358/2. [Aristophanes] who represented Cleon as noisy, Euripides as sentimental, Socrates as pedantic, and women as ‘suffragettes.’
