dame

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See also: Dame, damé, dáme, Damɛ, and da'me

English

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WOTD – 9 December 2018

Etymology

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English actress Dame Judi Dench at the 60th British Academy Film Awards in February 2007. Dench was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988, and thus uses the title “Dame” (sense 1)

From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”),[1] feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dame (plural dames)

  1. (British) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.
    Dame Edith Sitwell
  2. (British) A matron at a school, especially Eton College.
    • 2005, Paul Shrimpton, “Darnell’s School”, in A Catholic Eton?: Newman’s Oratory School, Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, →ISBN, page 88:
      Even though the dames’ houses were being gradually phased out at Eton, [John Henry] Newman was enthusiastic about the arrangement since it met one of the promoters’ key demands; besides, he had experienced something similar as a boy at Ealing School, where the boarding houses were also under the jurisdiction of dames. The Ealing dames ensured that boys were properly dressed and cared for them when sick, and they also ran the tuck shops.
    • 2016, David Noy, “Parents, Childhood, Youth (1739–1760)”, in Dr Johnson’s Friend and Robert Adam’s Client Topham Beauclerk, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 14:
      As he [Fréderic Guyaz] worked for Topham [Beauclerk] while he was at Eton, it is likely that Topham was a day-boarder there, living at home in Windsor. His Eton "dame" was Mrs. Bland; day-boarders were allocated to a dame at whose house they took their meals.
      Windsor is on the opposite side of the River Thames from Eton.
  3. (British, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.
    • 1870 January 29, “English Pantomime. In Two Parts.—Part II.”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art, volume VII (Fourth Series), number 318, London, Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, chapter X, pages 73 and 74:
      [page 73, column 2] Mother Goose was produced on the 29th of December; Simmons playing the Old Dame; […] [page 74, column 1] Bugle condemns her to the ducking-stool, a sentence opposed by Colin, who espouses the cause of the Old Dame, who, escaping from her persecutors, puts an end to the wedding festivities by raising the ghost of the Squire's first wife.
    • 2013, Maureen Hughes, “Welcome to the Magical World of Pantomime”, in A History of Pantomime, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History, →ISBN, page 34:
      The Dame in a Panto is generally a large, gregarious and out-going man who plays the part of a large, gregarious and out-going woman. […] Every successful actor who plays the part of Dame in Panto knows that the secret of his success is that it should be obvious that it is a man playing a part, for this is not a Drag act; the intention is not to be as womanly as possible, but always to be 'a feller in a frock'. […] Oh how everyone loves the Panto Dame for she is Panto.
  4. (US, dated, informal, slightly derogatory) A woman.
  5. (archaic) A lady, a woman.
    • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Castle of Delight: […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, […], London: […] [H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard, […] (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, [1867?], →OCLC, page 55:
      Now, thou, deare dame, that workſte theſe ſweete effectes in mee, / Vouchsafe my zeale, that onely ſeeke to ſerve and honour thee.
    • a. 1638, Ben Jonson, “The Twelvth Night’s Revells”, in Peter Cunningham, edited by David Laing, Inigo Jones and Ben Jonson: Being the Life of Inigo Jones. […], London: Printed for the Shakespeare Society, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 101:
      [T]hough they were first-form'd dames of Earth, / And in whose sparcklinge and refulgent eyes / The glorious sonne did still delight to rise; […]
    • 1684, Edward Ravenscroft, Dame Dobson: Or, The Cunning Woman. A Comedy as it is Acted at the Duke’s Theatre, London: Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, act I, scene xi, page 25:
      And do you think my Dame Dobſon don't know a little better than you? She tells you, you need ſay no more, and 'tis an affront to her Art not to believe her; and I'le not ſee my Dame affronted.
    • 1835 April, [Nathaniel Hawthorne], “Young Goodman Brown”, in The New-England Magazine, volume VIII, Boston, Mass.: E. R. Broaders, […], →OCLC, page 252:
      [H]e pointed his staff at a female figure on the path, in whom goodman Brown recognized a very pious and exemplary dame, who had taught him his catechism, in youth, and was still his moral and spiritual adviser, jointly with the minister and deacon Gookin.
    • 1849, Wolfgang Menzel, “First Period. Heathen Antiquity.”, in Mrs. George Horrocks, transl., The History of Germany, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. [...] Translated from the Fourth German Edition. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, part I (Origin and Manners of the Ancient Germans), section XX (Wolen and Walkyren), page 45:
      The poetical relation between the pagan warrior and his celestial bride changed, in course of time, to that between the Christian knight and his ladye-bright, who also was not always an earthly dame, but the holy Virgin or some saint.
  6. The hereditary feudal ruler (seigneur) of Sark, when the title is held by a woman in her own right.
  7. (chess, slang) A queen.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Verb

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dame (third-person singular simple present dames, present participle daming, simple past and past participle damed)

  1. To make a dame.
    • 1805, Richard Twiss, “On Draughts”, in Miscellanies, volume II, London:  […], page 162:
      The French call simply Pawn, “la Dame qui n’est point Damée, et l’on n’appelle Dame proprement dite, que le Pion qui est Damé, et couvert d’un autre Pion,” which means “the Draught or Pawn which is not damed, and which is only termed Dame or Queen, when the Pawn which is damed, is covered with another Pawn.”
    • 1995, H. Paul Jeffers, A Grand Night For Murder:
      Jonathan’s first edition of Calais was signed by Dame Agatha [Christie]. Not as Dame Agatha, just plain Agatha. She got Damed later.
    • 1995, Mediaweek, page C-8:
      […] Joanna Lumley, both pros in their respective fields, and both Brits in their respective hearts, are now both newly knighted (damed, in Lumley’s case) by England’s Queen Lizzy.
    • 2004, John Lahr, “Barry Humphries: Playing possum”, in Matthew Ricketson, editor, The Best Australian Profiles, Black Inc., →ISBN, page 215:
      Edna [Everage] was damed spontaneously, on camera, by the Socialist Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam.
    • 2006, Andrew Hosken, Nothing Like a Dame: The Scandals of Shirley Porter, London: Granta Books, →ISBN, page 289:
      Peter Bradley, deputy leader of the Labour group, scoffed that she [Shirley Porter] had been ‘Damed with faint praise’ and further observed that every pantomime needs a Dame.
    • 2013, Tracy Farr, Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt, Fremantle Press:
      And then, of course, there was the dame-ing. It didn’t take much to be made a dame in the ’70s.

References

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  1. ^ “dāme, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 February 2018.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Etymology

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From Dutch dame, from Middle Dutch dame, from Middle French dame, from Old French dame, from Latin domina.

Noun

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dame (plural dames, diminutive dametjie)

  1. lady
  2. (chess) queen

Derived terms

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See also

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Chess pieces in Afrikaans · skaakstukke (skaak + stukke) (layout · text)
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
koning dame toring loper ruiter pion

Danish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French dame (“lady”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /daːmə/, [ˈd̥æːmə]

Noun

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dame c (singular definite damen, plural indefinite damer)

  1. (polite) lady, woman (adult female)
  2. lady (adult female with a cultivated appearance)
  3. (informal) girlfriend
  4. (card games) queen

Declension

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Declension of dame
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative dame damen damer damerne
genitive dames damens damers damernes

Derived terms

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  • damet (“ladyish, ladylike”)

See also

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Playing cards in Danish · kort, spillekort (layout · text)
es toer treer firer femmer sekser syver
otter nier tier knægt, bonde dame, dronning konge joker

Dutch

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Etymology

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From Middle Dutch dame, from Middle French dame, from Old French dame, from Latin domina.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dame f (plural dames, diminutive dametje n)

  1. lady
    1. noblewoman
    2. Polite term or title of address for any (adult or adolescent) woman.
      Synonym: madam
  2. (chess, card games) queen
    Synonym: koningin

Usage notes

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  • The nonstandard plural damesch is occasionally encountered in archaising contexts, particularly in sororities. This spelling, however, is an unetymological faux-archaism, as the plural marker -s was historically never spelled -sch.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: dame

See also

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Chess pieces in Dutch · schaakstukken (schaak + stukken) (layout · text)
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
koning koningin, dame toren loper, bisschop, raadsheer paard pion

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French dame, from Late Latin domna, shortened variant of Latin domina.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dame f (plural dames)

  1. lady
  2. (chess, card games) queen
  3. (in the plural) draughts (UK), checkers (US)

Usage notes

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Occasionally, in very formal or official registers, dame can be used as a title with a woman's name, for example dame Jeanne Dupont. Normal usage would be Madame Jeanne Dupont.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Interjection

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dame

  1. (dated) why, indeed

See also

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Chess pieces in French · pièces d’échecs (layout · text)
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
roi dame tour fou cavalier pion
Playing cards in French · cartes à jouer (layout · text)
as deux trois quatre cinq six sept
huit neuf dix valet dame roi joker

Further reading

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Italian

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Noun

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dame f

  1. plural of dama

Anagrams

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Japanese

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Romanization

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dame

  1. Rōmaji transcription of だめ
  2. Rōmaji transcription of ダメ

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old French dame, from Latin domina.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈdaːm(ə)/, /ˈdam(ə)/

Noun

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dame (plural dames)

  1. lady (high-ranking or noble woman):
    1. abbess (governor of a nunnery)
    2. (rare) A female anchorite (with servants)
  2. A housewife (mistress of a family)
  3. A mother (of humans, animals, or plants)
  4. A term of address for a noble lady.
  5. A respectful term of address for any woman (sometimes sarcastic).
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Descendants
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References

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Etymology 2

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Noun

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dame

  1. Alternative form of dam (“dam”)

Etymology 3

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Noun

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dame

  1. Alternative form of damey

Etymology 4

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Noun

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dame

  1. (when preceding labials) Alternative form of dan

Etymology 5

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Verb

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dame

  1. Alternative form of dampnen

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From Latin domina, via Old French dame and late Old Norse damma.

Noun

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dame f or m (definite singular dama or damen, indefinite plural damer, definite plural damene)

  1. a lady, woman
  2. (romantic relationship) a girlfriend
  3. (card games) a queen

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Latin domina, via Old French dame and late Old Norse damma.

Noun

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dame f (definite singular dama, indefinite plural damer, definite plural damene)

  1. a lady, woman
  2. (romantic relationship) a girlfriend
  3. (card games) a queen

Derived terms

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References

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Old French

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Etymology

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From Late Latin domna, shortened variant of Latin domina.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dame oblique singular, f (oblique plural dames, nominative singular dame, nominative plural dames)

  1. lady; woman

Usage notes

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  • Dame was the usual term referring to women of high social status, while fame was used of such women chiefly in the sense of “wife”.

Descendants

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Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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dame f

  1. inflection of damă:
    1. indefinite plural
    2. indefinite genitive/dative singular

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈdame/ [ˈd̪a.me]
  • Rhymes: -ame
  • Syllabification: da‧me

Verb

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dame

  1. inflection of dar:
    1. second-person singular imperative combined with me
    2. second-person singular voseo imperative combined with me
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