madam
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈmæd.əm/
- (Philippines, colloquial or nonstandard) IPA(key): /məˈdam/, /məˈdæm/
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈmeɪd.əm/[1]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
editmadam (plural madams or mesdames)[2]
- A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
- Synonyms: dame, woman, lady, matron, mistress
- Coordinate terms: sir, gentleman
- 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.
- 1857, Charles Reade, White Lies. A Story., volume I, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 276:
- “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam. Mesdames, great events have occurred since I left you.”
- 1951 April, John H. Day, “The Breath of April”, in Pennsylvania Game News, volume XXII, number 1, Pennsylvania Game Commission, page 27, column 1:
- I leaned on the hoe, in classic pose, and watched the cowbird try to bust his buttons in that agonizing split whistle which is his serenade to the madam. Perhaps I should say to the mesdames, for this fellow is the Don Juan of the feathered world, with no moral standards and a distinct aversion to anything that resembles domestic ties.
- 1987, Navasilu, page 81:
- “[…] This size, madam!” Certainly, the mesdames would not have been interested.
- 2012, Bridget O’Donnell, Inspector Minahan Makes a Stand: The Missing Girls of England, Picador, →ISBN:
- After two years, Madam X was busy enough to take on a partner: Madam Z, aged twenty. Both regularly scouted new marks and told Stead that ‘nurse girls’ (nannies) were the best: ‘there are any number in [the parks] every morning and all are virgins’. Selling maidenhoods was their speciality. ‘Our gentlemen want maids,’ they said, ‘not damaged articles.’ ‘Come,’ he said to the mesdames, ‘what do you say to delivering me five [girls] on Saturday next? . . . Could you deliver me a parcel of maids, for me to distribute among my friends?’ Within a fortnight, the Mesdames had supplied Stead with seven girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
- The mistress of a household.
- (colloquial) 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.
- (slang) A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
- Synonyms: (archaic) abbess, bawd, lady abbess, nookie-bookie, whoremistress, brothel-keeper
- Coordinate terms: (mostly for males) pimp, brothel-keeper
- After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
- 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 54:
- 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.
- (India, derogatory slang) A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
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Verb
editmadam (third-person singular simple present madams, present participle madaming, simple past and past participle madamed)
- (transitive) To address as "madam".
- 1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, →OCLC, Act III, page 33:
- 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.
- 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
- 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.
- 1905, William Clark Russell, The Yarn of Old Harbour Town, page 208:
- He bowed to me, he madamed me, he was throughout as gentlemanlike and respectful as I had ever found him when we met at Old Harbour House or in Old Harbour Town.
- 1988, Gahan Wilson, Eddy Deco's Last Caper, page 123:
- "I don't care," she said. "They'll be dead in a few minutes if you'll just do your job. Stop madaming me and get to work."
Translations
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See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Meredith, L. P. (1872) “Madam”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech[1], Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Co., page 30.
- ^ “mesdames”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present: “1 a plural of madam. 2 plural of madame.”
Anagrams
editDutch
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Middle French madame.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editmadam f (plural madammen or madams, diminutive madammeke n or madammeken n or madammetje n)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editDescendants
editIndonesian
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Dutch madam, from Middle French madame.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editmadam (plural madam-madam, first-person possessive madamku, second-person possessive madammu, third-person possessive madamnya)
- (colloquial) madame, lady
- Synonym: nyonya
Further reading
edit- “madam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
Middle English
editNoun
editmadam
- Alternative form of madame
Norwegian Bokmål
editEtymology
editNoun
editmadam m (definite singular madammen, indefinite plural madammer, definite plural madammene)
Norwegian Nynorsk
editEtymology
editNoun
editmadam f (definite singular madamma, indefinite plural madammer, definite plural madammene)
Swedish
editNoun
editmadam c
- (dated) Synonym of fru
- (dated, derogatory) an old woman (generally)
Declension
editDeclension of madam | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | madam | madammen | madammer | madammerna |
Genitive | madams | madammens | madammers | madammernas |
See also
editReferences
editTurkish
editEtymology
editFrom Ottoman Turkish مادام (madam), from French madame.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editmadam (definite accusative madamı, plural madamlar)
Declension
edit- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English palindromes
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English colloquialisms
- English slang
- English derogatory terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English polite terms
- English terms of address
- en:Prostitution
- en:Female people
- Dutch terms borrowed from Middle French
- Dutch terms derived from Middle French
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɑm
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch palindromes
- Dutch feminine nouns
- nl:Prostitution
- Indonesian terms borrowed from Dutch
- Indonesian terms derived from Dutch
- Indonesian terms derived from Middle French
- Indonesian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Indonesian/dam
- Rhymes:Indonesian/dam/2 syllables
- Indonesian lemmas
- Indonesian nouns
- Indonesian palindromes
- Indonesian colloquialisms
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English palindromes
- Norwegian Bokmål terms borrowed from French
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from French
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål palindromes
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms borrowed from French
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from French
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk palindromes
- Norwegian Nynorsk feminine nouns
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish palindromes
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Swedish dated terms
- Swedish derogatory terms
- Turkish terms inherited from Ottoman Turkish
- Turkish terms derived from Ottoman Turkish
- Turkish terms derived from French
- Turkish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Turkish/dɑm
- Rhymes:Turkish/dɑm/2 syllables
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns
- Turkish palindromes