Library / English Dictionary

DAME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Informal terms for a (young) woman

Synonyms:

bird; chick; dame; doll; skirt; wench

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("dame" is a kind of...):

fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman (a young female)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A woman of refinement

Example:

a chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady

Synonyms:

dame; gentlewoman; lady; ma'am; madam

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("dame" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dame"):

grande dame (a middle-aged or elderly woman who is stylish and highly respected)

madame (title used for a married Frenchwoman)

Credits

 Context examples: 

By the side of the track the old dame was standing, fastening her red whimple once more round her head.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My ostensible errand on this occasion was to get measured for a pair of shoes; so I discharged that business first, and when it was done, I stepped across the clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker's to the post-office: it was kept by an old dame, who wore horn spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You may prove to be as welcome as the king's purveyor to the village dame.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was yet enjoying the calm prospect and pleasant fresh air, yet listening with delight to the cawing of the rooks, yet surveying the wide, hoary front of the hall, and thinking what a great place it was for one lonely little dame like Mrs. Fairfax to inhabit, when that lady appeared at the door.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I pray you, good dame, to give me those three pigment-pots and the brush, and I shall try whether I cannot better this painting.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Chez maman, said she, quand il y avait du monde, je le suivais partout, au salon et a leurs chambres; souvent je regardais les femmes de chambre coiffer et habiller les dames, et c'etait si amusant: comme cela on apprend.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The Lady Rochefort, a bright and laughter-loving dame, sat upon the left of her warlike spouse, with Lady Tiphaine upon the right.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“By my hilt! the good dame speaks truth,” said Aylward.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Doubt not that he will come back to you both safe and prosperous, my fair dame,” quoth Sir Nigel.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“What have you to say, you clean-shaved galley-beggar?” cried the fiery dame, turning upon the archer.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)