madam
nounEtymology
From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.
- derived from mea domina
- derived from madame
- inherited from madame
Definitions
A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
- Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”.
- 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.
- “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam. Mesdames, great events have occurred since I left you.”
The mistress of a household.
A conceited or quarrelsome girl.
- Selina kept pushing and shoving during musical chairs. The nursery school teacher said she was a bad-tempered little madam.
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A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for…
A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
- After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
- 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.
A hated or contemptuous woman
A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse
To address as "madam".
- Madam me no Madam, but learn to retrench your vvords; and ſay Mam; as yes Mam, and no Mam, as other Ladies VVomen do. Madam! 'tis a year in pronouncing.
- In Houſes where great Numbers of theſe Wretches are lodg’d it is both merry and melancholy to hear what a Maiding and Madamming there is all Day long, from the top of the Houſe to the bottom.
- Don’t madam me, — I can’t bear none of your lip service. I’m a plain-spoken woman, that’s what I am, and I like other people’s tongues to be as plain as mine.
To be a madam
To be a madam; to run (a brothel).
- Margaret Long’s freudianized Louisville does not have the local color of the famous Lexington bordello madamed by the late Belle Breezing (in the process of being fictionized); […]
Alternative letter-case form of madam.
- And nowadays the Madam will blame the Worker’s Unions […] Very unnatural but the Mesdames take the girls for granted
A polite form of address and title, abbreviated Mdm, used before a (usually middle-aged)…
A polite form of address and title, abbreviated Mdm, used before a (usually middle-aged) adult or elderly woman's surname, full name or given name if she does not have a family name.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for madam. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA