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seven sisters
Also Seven Sisters.
[See also sister n.]
†1. The Pleiades. Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 3334 Sche allone among þe susters seuene Schroudeth to vs schamfastly hir chere. [1667Milton P.L. x. 673 To Taurus with the Seav'n Atlantick Sisters, and the Spartan Twins Up to the Tropic Crab.] 1742Gray Propertius ii. 35 Whence the seven Sisters' congregated fires.
2. Hist. Seven cannon, resembling each other in size and make, cast by Robert Borthwick and used at the battle of Flodden.
1513Skelton Agst. Scottes 162 Your Seuen Systers, that gun so gay. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 259 Sewin cannonis that he tuik fourtht of the castill of Edinburgh, quhilk was callit the sewin sisteris. 1808Scott Marmion iv. xxvii, Borthwick's Sisters Seven.
3. a. A name of two common spurges. dial.
1886Britten & Holland Plant-n., Seven Sisters. Euphorbia Helioscopia and E. Peplus, in allusion to the seven branches of the stem. Co. Donegal, Ireland.
b. seven sister(s') rose: a climbing rose producing densely clustered heads of white, cream, or pinkish flowers.
1864Hibberd Rose Bk. 27 One of the finest is Grevillei, or the Seven Sisters' rose, a climber which grows with tremendous vigour. 1906Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 10/1 The seven-sister rose Blossoms about the gabled close.
4. A popular name for Malacocercus terricolor, an Indian bird of gregarious habits.
1878P. Robinson In Ind. Garden 31 The Seven Sisters pretend to feed on insects, but that is only when they cannot get peas. 1901Kipling Kim 90 The chattering, gray-backed Seven Sisters.
5. The seven international oil companies noted for their dominant influence on the production and marketing of petroleum (see quot. 1976).
1962Times 29 Oct. 11/2 Mattei..liked to take the view that the ‘Seven sisters’—as he called the majors—were making excessive profits out of both Governments and consumers. 1966J. Aldridge Statesman's Game xviii. 137 Was this..a challenge to the Seven Sisters of the oil world? 1976N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Apr. 20/1 The group of international oil companies often referred to as ‘the Seven Sisters’—Exxon, Mobil, Gulf, Standard Oil of California, Texaco, British Petroleum, and Royal Dutch Shell.
6. The group of long-established colleges (originally for women only) which were formerly regarded as the most prestigious women's colleges in the U.S. Cf. ivy league.
1962Changing Times Apr. 37/2 The most difficult women's colleges to get into are the so-called ‘Seven Sisters’—Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley. 1979N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 May 43/2 (Advt.), Yale grad..would like to meet a ‘seven sisters’ graduate. 1980L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 86/2 The feminine equivalent of the Ivy League is the group of colleges known as ‘The Seven Sisters’. |