1. A young female shop assistant or seamstress, especially in Paris; a working-class girl or young woman.
Usage: chiefly historical; originally French; often used in early 20th-century literature

Examples

• The novel depicted the lives of Parisian midinettes working long hours in dress shops.
• In the Belle Époque, midinettes were known for their fashionable appearance despite modest wages.
• The midinette character became a popular subject in French art and literature of the period.
• She worked as a midinette in a couture house on the Left Bank.
• The film captured the struggles and dreams of young midinettes in 1920s Paris.