odalisque

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A female slave in a harem, especially one in the Ottoman seraglio.

   • When the young Mauretanians were his guests in the little houses before the town gates, and he was of a good humour, it would come about that he displayed his odalisques as others would their jewels.
   • They grew fat, but successfully resisted the enticing odalisques with whom they were confronted.
   • Though I could see the titan odalisques and their garden and knew them to be no more than dream-stuff recalled, I could not escape from their fascination and the memory of the dream.
2. 2

   An erotic painting of a woman, usually nude, reclining in a luxurious or exotic setting.

   • Three years later, she added three more odalisques to her collection. Among the works she purchased in 1937 was an ink study that gave her insight into one stage in the evolution of the 1928 painting.
3. 3

   A desirable or sexually attractive woman.

The neighborhood

• antonymvirago
• neighborsultana