Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plant which blooms.
  • Having the character of the style of female dress introduced by Mrs. Bloomer of New York in 1849-50: as, a bloomer costume; a bloomer hat.
  • noun A dress or costume for women, the distinctive features of which are a short skirt, loose trousers buttoned round the ankle, and a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat. Specifically
  • noun A bloomer hat.
  • noun plural The articles composing a bloomer costume: as, to be dressed in bloomers.
  • noun A woman who assumes such a dress.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A costume for women, consisting of a short dress, with loose trousers gathered round ankles, and (commonly) a broad-brimmed hat.
  • noun A woman who wears a Bloomer costume.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An ironworker.
  • noun A circular loaf of white bread.
  • noun A blooming flower.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a flower that blooms in a particular way
  • noun an embarrassing mistake

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to bloom + -er.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the word bloom, for an iron ingot, from the Old English word blōma.

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Examples

  • This late-bloomer is still gaining acceptance as an offensive force, so pardon the rest of baseball for being slow to getting around to the idea that he's a strong defender, too.

    All-Defensive Team: Players who measure up 2010

  • At 6-7/187, the late bloomer is a 1988 birthdate who still must be drafted, so many teams have made special trips in to see him during the second half.

    Red Line: Under-18 World Championships provide a showcase 2009

  • I am a lot of things and trans, transsexual, or late-bloomer is the least of me.

    Genetic link to gender identity? 2008

  • But I was a late "bloomer"-my first set of braces got taken off before I had started going through puberty..so my facial bone structure hadn't grown all the way yet..and my mom even warned her that all her kids are late-bloomers.

    Posterior Crossbite Dr. Dean Brandon 2006

  • I've also made some 'bloomer' pettitpants to wear mostly for warmth, (under my skirts) but a long-time dresses-only friend suggested them for ease of sitting on the floor, or more active duties in a dress.

    Home Living 2009

  • Add to that the recent "bloomer" by Godfrey Bloom in Strasbourg, when the Yorkshire MEP pronounced that the role of women was to "clean behind the ‘fridges", and UKIP’s stock could be on the wane.

    Excellent news for Eurosceptics? Richard 2004

  • One or two Members questioned this and when he sat down he realized he had made a 'bloomer'.

    Forty Years in the British House of Commons 1952

  • Remember that in matrimony, as in everything else it is the premier "bloomer" which blows up les châteaux en Espagne.

    Over the Fireside with Silent Friends Richard King 1913

  • I, for instance, invented a dress -- a kind of bloomer thing -- only it wasn't a bloomer.

    Lady Connie Humphry Ward 1885

  • An sparsely populated, ungroomed black run is relatively much safer than a crowded 'bloomer'.

    Denver Post: News: Breaking: Local 2009

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