Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small retail shop that specializes in gifts, fashionable clothes, accessories, or food, for example.
  • noun A small shop located within a large department store or supermarket.
  • noun A small business offering specialized products and services.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A shop or place where goods are sold at retail.

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

  • adjective Specialized in bespoke or custom-made products for clientele in a niche market.
  • noun A small shop, especially one that sells fashionable clothes, jewelry and the like.
  • noun A small shop located within a larger one.
  • noun A film production company making only a few movies per year.

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

  • noun a shop that sells women's clothes and jewelry

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French botique, small shop, from Old Provençal botica, from Latin apothēca, storehouse; see apothecary.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French boutique.

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Examples

  • You both drank Bud, Miller, Schlitz or Pabst, and the phrase "boutique beer" never crossed your lips.

    The New American Divide Charles Murray 2012

  • "Where the term boutique historically cried out independent, now the brands are in there,"

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Tim McKeough 2009

  • Located in historic Fabric Row, the boutique is a gem of a find.

    Bus Stop Boutique « DESIGNPHILADELPHIA 2008

  • BankLA no longer engaged in what he called boutique cash loans to the movie industry.

    Lost Light Connelly, Michael, 1956- 2003

  • What we have to look at in Illinois specifically is an EPA that has designed what we call boutique formulas for gasoline, 11 of them in the Midwest alone, where you can't move that gasoline, that you can't produce it, refine it, and it's very problematic.

    CNN Transcript May 13, 2001 2001

  • Organisers of the Serenata Festival - Britain's first dedicated outdoor classical music festival - claim it will be the ultimate in what they call boutique camping and the most civilised festival imaginable.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2010

  • Organisers of the Serenata Festival - Britain's first dedicated outdoor classical music festival - claim it will be the ultimate in what they call boutique camping and the most civilised festival imaginable.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2010

  • Organisers of the Serenata Festival - Britain's first dedicated outdoor classical music festival - claim it will be the ultimate in what they call boutique camping and the most civilised festival imaginable.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2010

  • Organisers of the Serenata Festival - Britain's first dedicated outdoor classical music festival - claim it will be the ultimate in what they call boutique camping and the most civilised festival imaginable.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2010

  • Some of the brand names, like Gallup and like Zogby, actually have average to slightly below average track records, whereas some what I call boutique polling firms, like SurveyUSA, which is out in New Jersey, like Rasmussen, all they do is polling, those firms actually do quite well.

    Democracy Now! 2008

Comments

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  • Don't it always seem to go

    that you don't know what you've got til it's gone?

    October 17, 2007

  • I get the song, but I don't get the connection.

    October 17, 2007

  • They paved paradise

    And put up a parking lot

    With a pink hotel, a boutique

    And a swinging hot spot

    October 17, 2007

  • Oh yeah, I forgot about that verse.

    October 17, 2007

  • I've always been impressed with Joni's "between the forceps and the stone" line (Hejira--see complete lyrics on my

    October 17, 2007

  • A law firm concentrating on a narrow compass of specialisms is called a boutique.

    March 9, 2009

  • Same root as bodega, so much for all your fancy connotations.

    April 22, 2019