madam
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See also: madám
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
madam (plural madams)
- (dated in the UK) A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
- 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.
- 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.
- After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
Synonyms[edit]
- (polite form of address): dame, woman, lady, matron, mistress
- (woman who runs a brothel): abbess (archaic), bawd, lady abbess, nookie-bookie, whoremistress, (female) brothel-keeper
Coordinate terms[edit]
- (polite form of address): sir, gentleman
- (woman who runs a brothel): pimp, (male) brothel-keeper
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
polite term of address to a woman
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mistress of a household
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woman who manages a brothel
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Verb[edit]
madam (third-person singular simple present madams, present participle madaming, simple past and past participle madamed)
- (transitive) To address as "madam".
- 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."
- 1905, William Clark Russell, The Yarn of Old Harbour Town (page 208)
See also[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Middle French madame.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
madam f (plural madammen or madams, diminutive madammeke n or madammeken n or madammetje n)
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Afrikaans: madam
Turkish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
madam (definite accusative madamı, plural madamlar)
Declension[edit]
| Inflection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | madam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definite accusative | madamı | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singular | Plural | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nominative | madam | madamlar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definite accusative | madamı | madamları | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dative | madama | madamlara | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locative | madamda | madamlarda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ablative | madamdan | madamlardan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genitive | madamın | madamların | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English palindromes
- English dated terms
- English colloquialisms
- English slang
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Female people
- en:Prostitution
- Dutch terms borrowed from Middle French
- Dutch terms derived from Middle French
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch palindromes
- nl:Prostitution
- Turkish terms borrowed from French
- Turkish terms derived from French
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns
- Turkish palindromes
