madam
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmæd.əm/
- (Philippines, colloquial or nonstandard) IPA(key): /məˈdam/, /məˈdæm/
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈmeɪd.əm/[1]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
madam (plural madams or mesdames)[2]
- A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
- Synonyms: dame, woman, lady, matron, mistress
- Coordinate terms: sir, gentleman
- 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.
- 1857, Charles Reade, White Lies. A Story., volume I, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 276:
- “Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam. Mesdames, great events have occurred since I left you.”
- 1951 April, John H. Day, “The Breath of April”, in Pennsylvania Game News, volume XXII, number 1, Pennsylvania Game Commission, page 27, column 1:
- I leaned on the hoe, in classic pose, and watched the cowbird try to bust his buttons in that agonizing split whistle which is his serenade to the madam. Perhaps I should say to the mesdames, for this fellow is the Don Juan of the feathered world, with no moral standards and a distinct aversion to anything that resembles domestic ties.
- 1987, Navasilu, page 81:
- “[…] This size, madam!” Certainly, the mesdames would not have been interested.
- 2012, Bridget O’Donnell, Inspector Minahan Makes a Stand: The Missing Girls of England, Picador, →ISBN:
- After two years, Madam X was busy enough to take on a partner: Madam Z, aged twenty. Both regularly scouted new marks and told Stead that ‘nurse girls’ (nannies) were the best: ‘there are any number in [the parks] every morning and all are virgins’. Selling maidenhoods was their speciality. ‘Our gentlemen want maids,’ they said, ‘not damaged articles.’ ‘Come,’ he said to the mesdames, ‘what do you say to delivering me five [girls] on Saturday next? . . . Could you deliver me a parcel of maids, for me to distribute among my friends?’ Within a fortnight, the Mesdames had supplied Stead with seven girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
- 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.
- Synonyms: (archaic) abbess, bawd, lady abbess, nookie-bookie, whoremistress, brothel-keeper
- Coordinate terms: (mostly for males) pimp, brothel-keeper
- After she grew too old to work as a prostitute, she became a madam.
- 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 54:
- I sneaked into the house and stole my sister’s Hudson-seal fur coat out of the closet, then I beat it down to a whorehouse and sold it to the madam for $150.
- (India, derogatory slang) A hated or contemptuous woman; used as a general term of abuse
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
polite term of address to a woman
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mistress of a household
woman who manages a brothel
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Verb
madam (third-person singular simple present madams, present participle madaming, simple past and past participle madamed)
- (transitive) To address as "madam".
- 1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, →OCLC, Act III, page 33:
- Madam me no Madam, but learn to retrench your vvords; and ſay Mam; as yes Mam, and no Mam, as other Ladies VVomen do. Madam! 'tis a year in pronouncing.
- 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
- Don’t madam me, — I can’t bear none of your lip service. I’m a plain-spoken woman, that’s what I am, and I like other people’s tongues to be as plain as mine.
- 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."
Translations
to address as madam
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See also
References
- Meredith, L. P. (1872) “Madam”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech, Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Co., page 30.
- “mesdames”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present: “1 a plural of madam. 2 plural of madame.”