stay-maker
Noun: A "stay-maker" is a person who manufactures or sells stays, which are rigid corsets or supportive undergarments historically worn to shape and support the torso, particularly in women's fashion from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
- (A person who made a supportive undergarment.)
- (A professional who produced stays.)
"to be a stay-maker by trade": to work professionally as a maker of stays.
- He was a stay-maker by trade, supplying the local gentry. (He earned his living by making corsets.)
"stay-maker's workshop": the place where stays are designed and constructed.
- The stay-maker's workshop was filled with whalebone and linen. (The workspace of a corset maker.)
Stay (n): a rigid strip (e.g., of whalebone, steel, or wood) used to stiffen a corset or garment.
- The dress required steel stays to maintain its shape. (Rigid supports.)
Stays (n, plural): the corset itself, often referring to a structured undergarment.
- She wore stays under her gown to achieve the desired silhouette. (A corset.)
Stay-making (n): the craft or business of producing stays.
- Stay-making was a specialized trade in the 1700s. (The profession of making corsets.)
- Corset-maker: a person who makes corsets (a more general term for modern or historical undergarments).
- Bodice-maker: a maker of fitted upper garments, sometimes overlapping with stay-making.
- Whalebone-worker: a historical term for a craftsman who used whalebone to stiffen stays.
"Stays and laces": a phrase referring to the essential components of a corset.
- The seamstress worked with stays and laces to ensure a perfect fit. (The rigid supports and fastenings.)
"To tighten one's stays": to adjust or secure a corset, often used metaphorically to mean preparing for a challenge.
- Before the long journey, she tightened her stays. (She prepared herself physically and mentally.)