Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Bluestocking \Blue"stock`ing\, n.
   1. A literary lady; a female pedant. [Colloq.]

   Note: As explained in Boswell's ``Life of Dr. Johnson'', this
         term is derived from the name given to certain meetings
         held by ladies, in Johnson's time, for conversation
         with distinguished literary men. An eminent attendant
         of these assemblies was a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always
         wore blue stockings. He was so much distinguished for
         his conversational powers that his absence at any time
         was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became
         common, ``We can do nothing without the blue
         stockings.'' Hence these meetings were sportively
         called bluestocking clubs, and the ladies who attended
         them, bluestockings.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) The American avocet ({Recurvirostra
      Americana}).