madam
See also: madám
English
Etymology
From Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina.
Pronunciation
Noun
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
- (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
- (polite form of address): sir, gentleman
- (woman who runs a brothel): pimp, (male) brothel-keeper
Related terms
Translations
polite term of address to a woman
|
mistress of a household
|
conceited girl
|
woman who manages a brothel
|
Verb
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
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French madame.
Pronunciation
Noun
madam f (plural madammen or madams, diminutive madammeke n or madammeken n or madammetje n)
Derived terms
Descendants
- Afrikaans: madam
Turkish
Etymology
Noun
madam (definite accusative madamı, plural madamlar)
Declension
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: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
- 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
- Turkish terms borrowed from French
- Turkish terms derived from French
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns
- Turkish palindromes