Also 7–8 tyre-. [f. TIRE sb.1 + WOMAN.] A woman who assists at a lady’s toilet; a lady’s maid (arch.); † also, a woman employed in the making or sale of women’s clothing; a dressmaker, costumier (obs.).
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 126. T’was some tyrewoman he tooke them fro.
c. 1626. Dick of Devon, III. iv., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1883), II. 58. Have they forsaken the Divell and all his fashions? banishd their Taylors and Tyrewomen?
1667. Pepys, Diary, 20 Feb. To Mrs. Grotier’s, the Queen’s tire-woman, for a pair of locks for my wife.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 79, ¶ 1. Dressed with all the Art and Care that Mrs. Toilet the Tire-Woman could bestow on her.
1790. Cath. M. Graham, Lett. Educ., 108. Why should they not … value themselves for this outside fashionableness of the taylor or tire woman, when their parents have so early instructed them to do it?
1847. Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, xxv. They will make very nice tire-women to some lady of quality.
1867. ‘Ouida,’ C. Castlemaine (1879), 7. To while time away by scolding her tire-woman.
