mademoiselle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌmædəmwəˈzɛl/
rhymes: -ɛl
Forms: form: mademoiselles
form: mademoiselling
form: mademoiselled
form: mademoiselled
form: mamzelle
Etymology: Borrowed from French mademoiselle.
Senses: examples: text: If not courted by some tall and handsome “Chasseur,” or some crafty little valet who “mademoiselles” her, she almost invariably condescends to notice favourably some dandified linendraper’s assistant, or sixth clerk in an attorney’s office, whom she met one holiday at the Chaumière or at the Ermitage.
ref: 1840, Auguste de Lacroix; [unknown, transl.], “The Parisian Lady’s Maid”, in Pictures of the French: A Series of Literary and Graphic Delineations of French Character, London: W[illia]m S. Orr and Co., […], page 235:
text: “And if Edla should have a taste and inclination for a military life, would, Mademoiselle wish to made her a general? or, if she had a particular penchant for anatomy, an anatomical professor? Young ladies belong probably to the St. Simonians, and young ladies like these desire that everywhere in civil life the woman should have the same privileges as the man.” (The President always Mademoiselled me very much when he was displeased with me.)
ref: 1843, Fredrika Bremer, “The Education of Women”, in [Mary Howitt], transl., The President’s Daughters. A Narrative of a Governess., Boston, Mass.: […] James Munroe and Company, […], page 57, column 1:
text: A lady, whom the bills—neither Missing, Madaming, nor Mademoiselling—entitled Adelaide Weinthal, appeared as Maffeo Orsini.
ref: 1853 September 17, Dwight’s Journal of Music: A Paper of Art and Literature, volume III, number 24, Boston, Mass., page 191, column 3:
text: There were ladies too, en cheveux, in caps and bonnets, some of whom knew Trilby, and thee’d and thou’d with familiar affection, while others mademoiselle’d her with distant politeness, and were mademoiselle’d and madame’d back again.
ref: 1894 January, George du Maurier, “Trilby”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume LXXXVIII, number DXXIV, page 186, column 1:
text: “Mademoiselle, let me mount you on my mare,” I said, “and while you ride on I will get your horse.” She gave a little gasp. “You must not mademoiselle me,” she exclaimed; […] “Mademoiselle,” I said, “it is imperative that we leave the high road. We are, I fear, pursued, and we must throw our pursuers off our track.” “I wish you would not mademoiselle me,” she pouted, dragging on the mare’s mouth.
ref: 1899, L. McManus [Charlotte Elizabeth McManus], chapter II, in Lally of the Brigade: A Romance, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page and Company, pages 24 and 30:
text: Pamela was not the least bit impressed by the chiaroscuro of attendants mademoiselling her.
ref: 1971, Gael Greene, Bite: A New York Restaurant Strategy for Hedonists, Masochists, Selective Penny Pinchers and the Upwardly Mobile, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 60:
text: First you thought I was a French schoolgirl, and mademoiselled me all over the place, and tonight I look different from the ‘girl’ in chausses you met this afternoon.
ref: 1987, Carol Thurston, Flair, London: Pan Books, published 1989, →ISBN, page 26:
text: “I don’t think so, mademoiselle. Irma will not like.” “Don’t mademoiselle me, Pierre, I know all about you guys.”
ref: 1998, Bud Egeland, A Matter of Time, New York, N.Y.: Vantage Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 86:
glosses: To address as “mademoiselle”.