lady - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Middle English lady

English lady

From Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“mistress of a household, wife of a lord, lady”, literally “bread-kneader”), from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + dǣġe (“kneader”), related to Old English dǣġe (“maker of dough”) (whence dey (“dairymaid”)). Compare also lord. More at loaf, dairy, dough. Unrelated to lad.

lady (plural ladies)

  1. (historical) The mistress of a household.
  2. A woman of breeding or higher class, a woman of authority.
    "I would like the dining room to be fully set by tonight; would you do so?" "Yes, my lady."
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      ‘ […] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.
  3. The feminine of lord, a lordess.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 283, column 2:
      Of all theſe bounds euen from this Line, to this, / With ſhadowie Forreſts, and with Champains rich’d / With plenteous Riuers, and wide-ſkirted Meades / We make thee Lady.
    • 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfaul, 6th edition, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, published 1858:
      ’T was the proudest hall in the North Countree,
      And never its gates might opened be,
      Save to lord or lady of high decree […]
  4. A title for someone married to a lord or gentleman.
  5. A title that can be used instead of the formal terms of marchioness, countess, viscountess, or baroness.
  6. (polite or used by children) A woman: an adult female human.
    Please direct this lady to the soft furnishings department.
  7. (in the plural) A polite reference or form of address to women.
    Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be here today. Follow me, ladies!
  8. (slang) Used to address a female.
    Hey, lady, move your car!
    Hey, ladies, how are you doing?
  9. (informal) A wife or girlfriend; a sweetheart.
  10. A woman to whom the particular homage of a knight was paid; a woman to whom one is devoted or bound.
  1. (slang) A queen (the playing card).
  2. (attributive, with a professional title) Who is a woman.
    A lady doctor.
  1. (Wicca) Alternative form of Lady.
  2. (archaic) gastric mill, the triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster, consisting of calcareous plates; so called from a fancied resemblance to a seated female figure.
  3. (UK, slang) A five-pound note. (Rhyming slang, Lady Godiva for fiver.)
  4. (slang, chiefly in the plural) A woman’s breast.
  5. (chess, slang, rare) A queen.

mistress of a household

woman of breeding and authority

feminine of lord

title for the wife a lord

title that can be used instead of the formal terms of marchioness, countess, viscountess or baroness

polite term referring to a woman

toilets intended for use by women

informal: wife or girlfriend — see also sweetheart

woman to whom one is devoted or bound

with a professional title: who is a woman

Wicca: alternative form of Lady — see Lady

triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster — see gastric mill

five-pound note — see also fiver

lady (third-person singular simple present ladies, present participle ladying, simple past and past participle ladied)

  1. To address as “lady”.
    • 1897, Macmillan’s Magazine, page 13, column 1:
      “ […] When I am dead ye’ll mind I said it, my leddy.” “Ah, Elspeth, but do not lady me; say Christine, just wee Christine. […] ”
    • 1928, The Letters of Mary Nisbet of Dirleton, Countess of Elgin, New York, N.Y.: D Appleton and Company, page 276:
      I see Bey still continues jealous of poor Mou; does she still go by that name? In Greek it means “my” and her Paramanas always called her Lady Mary Mou, so we called her Mou. I hope you admire my teaching you Greek. I beg you will break Bruce of ladying her, if it should grow up with him it would be detestable.
    • 2006, Jim Butcher, Cursor’s Fury: Book Three of the Codex Alera, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, page 658:
      ‘Then, Lady Placida, there is something I wish to ask of you.’ ‘Only,’ she said sternly, ‘if you stop Ladying me. I have a name, dear.’
    • 2018, Skye MacKinnon, Winter Princess (Daughter of Winter, Book Two), Peryton Press:
      “How can I help, my lady?” “Stop the ladying. […]”

Borrowed from English lady, from Middle English lady, from Old English hlǣfdīġe.

lady f (plural ladies or ladys)

  1. lady (wife of a British lord; important woman, usually British)
    Synonyms: dame, madame

Unadapted borrowing from English lady.

lady f (invariable)

  1. lady (wife of a lord; important woman)
  1. ^ lady in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
PIE root
*dʰeyǵʰ-

Inherited from Old English hlǣfdiġe, hlāfdiġe, in turn from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + dǣġe (“maid”).

The variants in /aː/ and /ɛ̞ː/ possibly originate from hlāfdiġe and hlǣfdiġe respectively; note that the vowel has been shortened due to trisyllabic shortening and then relengthened due to open-syllable lengthening.

lady (plural ladies, genitive singular ladies or **lady)

  1. A woman with authority or leadership:
    1. A lady (mistress of a household)
      • c. 1382, John Wycliffe, transl., Wycliffe's Bible, Genesis 16:7–9:
        And whanne the aungel of the Lord hadde foundun hir biside the welle of water in wildirnes, the which is in the / weye of Sur in desert, he seide to hir, Agar, the hand mayden of Saray, whens comyst thow, and whithir gost thow? / The which answeride, Fro the face of Saray my ladi I flee.
        And when the angel of the Lord had found her in the wilderness beside the spring of water, which is in the desert on the way to Shur, he said to her, "Hagar, handmaiden of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She answered, "I am fleeing from the face of Sarai, my lady".
    2. A lady (noblewoman or female monarch).
    3. A woman who manages an abbey or inn.
  2. The wife of a noble or monarch.
  3. A polite way to address a noble or honoured woman.
    • a. 1333, “Poem 7: Ave maris stella; Fol. 207r-v”, in William Herebert, transl., Opera (British Library MS. Add. 46919)‎[2], Hereford; republished as The Works of William Herebert, OFM (Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse), [Ann Arbor]: University of Michigan, a. 2018:
      Hayl, Leuedy, se-stœrre bryht, / Godes moder, edy wyht, / Mayden euer vurst and late, / Of heueneriche sely ʒáte.
      Hail, Lady, bright sea-star, / God's mother, blessed being, / maiden always [from] first to last, / the Kingdom of Heaven's holy gate.
  4. (by extension) Any woman.
  5. A female deity (or the Virgin Mary).

Unadapted borrowing from English lady, from Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe.

lady f (indeclinable)

  1. Lady (aristocratic title for a woman)
  2. lady (wife of a lord)
  3. lady (woman of breeding and authority)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

lady f

  1. inflection of lada:
    1. genitive singular
    2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Unadapted borrowing from English lady.

lady f (plural **lady)

  1. lady

Unadapted borrowing from English lady.

lady f (plural ladies)

  1. lady (wife of a lord; important woman)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Unadapted borrowing from English lady, from Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe.

lady c

  1. Lady (aristocratic title for a woman)
  2. lady (wife of a lord)