See Also: dame(dictionary)
Dame(medicine)
dame(dictionary)
Dame (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Edna, Dame(dictionary)
Dame Edna(dictionary)
dame de compagnie(dictionary)
dame d'honneur(dictionary)
Notre Dame(dictionary)
Dame - Poker(gambling)

dame (iou)



dame noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French, earlier damme from Latin domina fem. corresp. to dominus lord. Cf. DAM noun2, DAN noun1, DOM noun1, DON noun1.]
I.
A female ruler or head. obsolete in gen. sense. ME.
Milton Sovran of Creatures, universal Dame.
A form of address: my lady, madam. (Orig. the fem. corresp. to sire, later applied only to women of lower rank.) ME-E18.
(Used as a title preceding the name of) a woman of rank, formerly spec., the wife or widow of a knight or baronet, now spec. a woman Knight Commander or holder of Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath, the Order of the British Empire, the Royal Victorian Order, or the Order of St Michael and St George. ME.
b. Used as a title preceding the name of an abstraction personified as a woman, as Dame Fortune, Dame Nature, etc. ME.
(Used before the surname of) the mistress of a household, an elderly matron, or a housewife. Now arch. & dial. ME.
Shakespeare Winter's Tale This day she was..Both dame and servant; welcom'd all; serv'd all.
(Used as a title preceding the name of) the superior of a nunnery, an abbess, prioress, etc.; spec. (as a formal title of) a Benedictine nun who has made her solemn profession. LME.
A woman, a lady. Now arch., poet., joc., or slang (chiefly N. Amer.). M16.
W. H. Auden If you pass up a dame, you've yourself to blame.
Hist. (Used before the surname of) the mistress of a children's school. M17.
At Eton College: one of a class of women (at one time also men) who keep boarding-houses for oppidans but are not attached to the teaching staff. M18.
A comic character in modern pantomime, that of a middle-aged woman, traditionally played by a man. E20.
II.
= DAM noun2 2. ME-E19.
= DAM noun2 3. ME-E18.
Comb.: dame-school Hist. a primary school of a kind kept by elderly women; dame's violet a cruciferous plant, Hesperis matronalis, with pale lilac flowers which have no scent until evening.