MILLINER noun (mill-uh-ner)

noun
1. a person who designs, makes, or sells hats for women.

Quotes

Mrs. Gruby, our best milliner, does not believe in slavishly following Paris fashions; she originates her own styles.
--*Jean Webster,*"Dear Enemy, Part II " The Century, May 1915

There is an exquisite thoroughness in the way a milliner's or a dressmaker's work is done,--a work such as clumsy man cannot rival, and can hardly estimate.
--*Thomas Wentworth Higginson,*"Thorough," Women and the Alphabet, 1881


Origin

Milan, the name of the chief city of Lombardy, was formerly accented on the first syllable and the second syllable was unstressed. This accounts for the pronunciation of milliner, which meant originally, in the 15th century, “an inhabitant of Milan” and, a century later, “a designer, maker, and merchant of fine garments and accessories for ladies, especially of ladies’ hats.”