Betsy Ross

3 5.8

An American seamstress said to have sewn the first American flag

proper noun
/ˈbɛtsi rɔs/

: Betsy Ross

The story of Betsy Ross sewing the first American flag is taught in many U.S. schools.

Examples

Did Betsy Ross really sew the first American flag?
Historians debate whether Betsy Ross truly designed and made the original Stars and Stripes.
A museum in Philadelphia commemorates the life and legend of Betsy Ross.
The story of Betsy Ross making the first flag is well-known.
A museum in Philadelphia commemorates the life and legend of Betsy Ross.
The story of Betsy Ross sewing the first American flag is taught in many U.S. schools.
Historians debate whether Betsy Ross truly designed and made the original Stars and Stripes.

Synonyms

Ross

vsBetsy Ross

4 5.9

An American woman said to have sewn the first American flag

has identical meaning but uses the full personal name rather than the surname

Surface Forms

Betsy Ross main

Morphology

Betsy + Ross

This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; knowing the constituent tokens 'Betsy' and 'Ross' (both personal names) does not allow a learner to infer the biographical fact that she was an American seamstress credited with making the first U.S. flag. Proper names are arbitrary referents that require encyclopedic knowledge rather than compositional analysis, so the meaning is not derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Betsy Ross is the name of an American seamstress who, one popular story says, sewed the 'first American flag' after George Washington asked her to. The image of her sewing a flag with stars helps learners remember why her name is linked to the origin of the 'Stars and Stripes'.