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mill-girl

mill-girl

7.5
A girl or young woman who works in a factory making cloth
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : chica de molino
  • So far from home: The story of Mary Driscoll, an Irish mill girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847. New York: Scholastic.
  • Lowell mill-girls

Examples

  • The unit requires students to read Lyddie, a novel about the life of a Lowell mill girl by Katherine Paterson.

    Academic text (2003)
  • The story of the mill girl highlights her struggles and aspirations while working long hours in the textile factory.

  • Haskell's interests lie with labor, and he seems most particularly keen on improving living and working conditions for mill girls.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The Lowell "mill girls" came from middling, not indigent, families and looked forward to alternative styles of living, as is clear in the case of one who saved her earnings in order to matriculate at Oberlin College.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Many mill girls faced challenging working conditions but remained hopeful for a better future and opportunities.

  • Each mill girl contributed to the local economy while balancing the demands of work and their personal lives.

Synonyms

millworker
vsmill-girl
1 2.9

A person who works in a mill operating machines to make things

is specific to a young female worker rather than a general worker
mill-hand
vsmill-girl
6.9

A person who works in a mill or factory operating machines

is used for a young female worker especially in textile mills

Surface Forms

mill-girl singular
mill-girls plural

Morphology

mill-girl = mill + girl (transparent) = mill + girl

Literal compound of 'mill' + 'girl' indicating a girl who works in a mill, which learners can readily infer.

Etymology

The word mill-girl comes from the parts mill (a 'building with big machines for making cloth') and girl (a 'young woman'). In the 1800s, the name described young women who worked in these mills, so mill-girl now means a girl or young woman who works in a mill.