lady
/ˈleɪ.di/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms ladies ladying ladied
- noun (historical) The mistress of a household.
- noun 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."”
- noun The feminine of lord, a lordess.
- noun A title for someone married to a lord or gentleman.
- noun A title that can be used instead of the formal terms of marchioness, countess, viscountess, or baroness.
- noun (polite or used by children) A woman: an adult female human. “Please direct this lady to the soft furnishings department.”
- noun (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!”
- noun (slang) Used to address a female. “Hey, lady, move your car!”
- verb To address as “lady”.
- noun An aristocratic title for a woman.
- noun Used with a surname or the name of a peerage, for a peeress in her own right (other than a duchess), or the wife (or widow) of a peer (other than a duke). “Would Lady Macbeth care for dessert?”
- noun Used with a surname, for the wife (or widow) of a knight or baronet. “Sir John Smith and Lady Smith accompanied the ambassador.”
- noun Used as a courtesy title with the woman’s given name, for a daughter of a duke, marquess, or earl.
- noun Used with her husband’s given name, for the wife (or widow) of a man who is the son of a duke or marquess, or the oldest son of an earl.
- noun (Wicca) A high priestess.
- proper noun The title for the (primary) female deity in female-centered religions. “My Lady, will you not take pity on me?”
- proper noun (in particular) The major supernatural figurehead in the Wiccan religion, a triune goddess split into the Mother, Maiden, and Crone.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A woman who looks after the domestic affairs of a family; a mistress; the female head of a household.
- noun A woman having proprietary rights or authority; mistress; --a feminine correlative of lord. "Lord or lady of high degree." Lowell.
- adjective Belonging or becoming to a lady; ladylike. "Some lady trifles." Shak.
Etymology [OE. ladi, læfdi, AS. hl, hl; AS. hlaf loaf + a root of uncertain origin, possibly akin to E. dairy. See Loaf, and cf. Lord.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lady”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details