dame means usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.
dame is pronounced /deɪm/.
Why “dame” is a great word
A title of honor for a woman equivalent to the rank of knight, or more generally, a woman of rank, authority, or mature years. From Middle English dame, from Old French dame ('lady'), from Latin domina ('mistress of the house'), the feminine form of dominus ('lord, master'). Unlike 'lady,' a general and polite address, or 'matron,' which ties a woman to a managerial, often domestic sphere, a dame commands her station through earned honor or intrinsic character. She is the glint of an insignia on a velvet lapel, the imperious arch of an eyebrow in a crowded room, the sound of a cane tapping decisively on a marble floor—a figure whose very presence suggests a life composed, not merely endured.
Etymology
From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.
noun
- Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.e.g.“Dame Edith Sitwell”
- A matron at a school, especially Eton College.
- In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.
- A woman.e.g.“I can see that would be the kind of a chap that the dames would stand for everlastingly.”
- A lady, a woman.
- The hereditary feudal ruler (seigneur) of Sark, when the title is held by a woman in her own right.
- A queen.
- The titular prefix given to a female knight
Words closest in meaning
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