duenna
English edit
Etymology edit
From Old Spanish duenna or dueña, from Vulgar Latin donna, from Latin domina (“Lady”). Doublet of dame.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
duenna (plural duennas)
- a chaperon of a young lady, usually an older woman.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 193:
- 'Madam, I have a secret to tell you.' Now the very word secret is enough to rouse any one's curiosity; and, giving a quick glance round to see if her duennas were on the alert, she prepared to listen, and I saw that her eye had caught sight of the letter.
- 1949, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces:
- Then he placed her in a house and shut her up in a chamber, appointing ten old women as duennas to guard her, and forbade her to go forth to the Seven Palaces.
- a governess or nanny.
Translations edit
a chaperon of a young lady
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a governess or nanny
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