smoothly fitted under garment which would reach from the bust area to the hip area Stiffened by strips of wood or bone (later steel), tightened by lacings (also called stays or pair of bodies) Sometimes made of two pieces
a usually close-fitting and often laced medieval jacket; a woman's close-fitting boned supporting undergarment that is often hooked and laced and extends from the torso to below the hips and has garters attached
Undergarment - close fitting to impose silhouette with defined waist and or full bosom Traditionally in two pieces, boned and laced up back and front Originally called Stays this term is now largely obsolete examples
A corset is a stiff piece of underwear worn by some women, especially in the past. It fits tightly around their hips and waist and makes them thinner around the waist when they wear it. a piece of tight-fitting underwear that women wore especially in the past to make them look thinner (corset (13-19 centuries), from , from cors; CORSE). Article of clothing worn to shape or constrict the torso. It dates to at least 2000 BC, when it was worn as an outer garment by men as well as women in Minoan Crete. In the 16th-17th century it was worn to flatten the chest and was reinforced with wood. Some outer corsets were jeweled and elaborately embroidered. After 1660 they were shaped to accentuate the breasts. In the 19th century the corset, now reinforced with whalebone or metal, changed with the style of dresses; over-tight lacing of corsets was blamed for numerous health problems. The corset was abandoned in the 1920s, when looser-fitting, straight clothes came into fashion, and in the 1930s it was replaced by the brassiere and girdle, made of elastic materials, and by the one-piece corselette
in medieval times, two definitions: 1) long or short surcoat with or without sleeves worn by men in the 12th-15th centuries; 2) a woman's furlined winter gown lacing in front, worn between 14th and 16th centuries