damsel
/ˈdæm.zəl/ noun
Forms damsels damoisel damoiselle damosel damozel
- noun A young woman (of noble birth).
- noun A girl; a maiden (without sexual experience).
- noun A young woman who is not married.
- noun An unmarried lady-in-waiting.
- noun A young, attractive woman.
- noun A chattering damsel (component of a mill).
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English dameisele, from Old French damoisele, from Vulgar Latin *domnicella, a diminutive from Classical Latin domina (“mistress, lady”), from dominus, from *demh₂-. Doublet of demoiselle, doncella, and donzella.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales. [Obs.]
- noun A young unmarried woman; a gerl; a maiden.
Etymology [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL. domicella, dominicella, fem., domicellus, dominicellus, masc., dim. fr. L. domina, dominus. See Dame, and cf. Demoiselle, Doncella.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “damsel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details