madam
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmæd.əm/
ipa: /məˈdam/
ipa: /məˈdæm/
ipa: /ˈmeɪd.əm/
Forms: form: madams
form: mesdames
form: madame
Etymology: From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.
Senses: examples: text: Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”.
text: Later, Mrs Grey was sitting in her favourite tea shop. “Would madam like the usual cream cakes and patisserie with her tea?” the waitress asked.
text: “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam. Mesdames, great events have occurred since I left you.”
ref: 1857, Charles Reade, White Lies. A Story., volume I, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 276:
text: I leaned on the hoe, in classic pose, and watched the cowbird try to bust his buttons in that agonizing split whistle which is his serenade to the madam. Perhaps I should say to the mesdames, for this fellow is the Don Juan of the feathered world, with no moral standards and a distinct aversion to anything that resembles domestic ties.
ref: 1951 April, John H. Day, “The Breath of April”, in Pennsylvania Game News, volume XXII, number 1, Pennsylvania Game Commission, page 27, column 1:
text: “[…] This size, madam!” Certainly, the mesdames would not have been interested.
ref: 1987, Navasilu, page 81:
text: After two years, Madam X was busy enough to take on a partner: Madam Z, aged twenty. Both regularly scouted new marks and told Stead that ‘nurse girls’ (nannies) were the best: ‘there are any number in [the parks] every morning and all are virgins’. Selling maidenhoods was their speciality. ‘Our gentlemen want maids,’ they said, ‘not damaged articles.’ ‘Come,’ he said to the mesdames, ‘what do you say to delivering me five [girls] on Saturday next? . . . Could you deliver me a parcel of maids, for me to distribute among my friends?’ Within a fortnight, the Mesdames had supplied Stead with seven girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
ref: 2012, Bridget O’Donnell, Inspector Minahan Makes a Stand: The Missing Girls of England, Picador, →ISBN:
coordinate_terms: miss#Noun_2
sir#Noun
;
mister#Noun
;
m'lady#Noun
m'lord#Noun
glosses: A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
synonyms: dame
woman
lady
matron
mistress
coordinate_terms: gentleman
man
master
glosses: The mistress of a household.
examples: text: Selina kept pushing and shoving during musical chairs. The nursery school teacher said she was a bad-tempered little madam.
glosses: A conceited or quarrelsome girl.
examples: text: After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
text: I sneaked into the house and stole my sister’s Hudson-seal fur coat out of the closet, then I beat it down to a whorehouse and sold it to the madam for $150.
ref: 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 54:
synonyms: abbess
bawd
lady abbess
nookie-bookie
whoremistress
brothelkeeper
coordinate_terms: word: pimp
english: mostly for males
translation: mostly for males
word: brothel-keeper
glosses: A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
glosses: A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse
Derived terms: bemadam
dear Sir or Madam
Madam and Eve
madamhood
madamish
madamji
troll madam
Related terms: ma'am
madame
mademoiselle
m'lady