Definition of "tournure" [tour•nure]

• Turn; contour; figure (noun)
• Any device used by women to expand the skirt of a dress below the waist; a bustle. (noun)

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• "A noticeable feature in her tournure was a magnificent mass of braided locks."
• "Now, though I would not recommend to you, to go into women’s company in search of solid knowledge, or judgment, yet it has its use in other respects; for it certainly polishes the manners, and gives une certaine tournure, which is very necessary in the course of the world; and which Englishmen have generally less of than any people in the world."
• "It is in the best companies only; that you can learn the best manners and that 'tournure', and those graces, which I have so often recommended to you, as the necessary means of making a figure in the world."