n. Originally, a sort of gray woolen fabric, much used for dresses by women of the lower classes in France: so called from its gray color. Hence —2. A young woman of the working class; especially, a young woman employed as a shopgirl, a sewing girl, or a chambermaid: commonly applied by foreigners in Paris to the young women of this class who are free in their manners on the streets or in the shops.n. The noctuid moth Acronycta strigosa: an English collectors' name.