THE FIRST WORD

silk-stocking district

PRONUNCIATION:

(SILK-STOK-ing dis-trikt) 

MEANING:

noun: A part of a city inhabited by the rich and powerful.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the fact that only the rich could afford expensive silk hosiery. Earliest documented use: 1893.

USAGE:

"In New York years ago, cops in the silk-stocking district of the Upper East Side knew how to tie a bow tie for a young man without the experience to do it himself."
James & Kay Salter; Life Is Meals; Knopf; 2010.