Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The chief lady in waiting on the Queen of Spain.
- n. An elderly woman holding a middle station between a governess and a companion, appointed to take charge of the girls of a Spanish family.
- n. Any elderly woman who is employed to guard a younger; a governess; a chaperon.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The chief lady in waiting on the queen of Spain.
- n. An elderly lady holding a station between a governess and companion, and appointed to have charge over the younger ladies in a Spanish or a Portuguese family.
- n. Any old woman who is employed to guard a younger one; a governess.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a woman chaperon
Etymologies
- From Old Spanish duenna or dueña, from Vulgar Latin donna, from Latin domina ("Lady"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Glencora, Alice thought, should not have allowed the word duenna to have passed her lips in speaking to anyone; but, above all, she should not have done so in the hearing of Mr Palliser's cousin.”
“Glencora, Alice thought, should not have allowed the word duenna to have passed her lips in speaking to any one; but, above all, she should not have done so in the hearing of Mr Palliser's cousin.”
“Glencora, Alice thought, should not have allowed the word duenna to have passed her lips in speaking to anyone; but, above all, she should not have done so in the hearing of Mr Palliser’s cousin.”
“He planted his watchful mo - ther as a kind of duenna over her, when - ever he rode out to pay his complin: ients tQ the lord of Gravenegg, whofe vaffal he was.”
Internet Archive: Popular tales of the Germans [selected from J.C.A. Musaeus] tr. [by W. Beckford].
“duenna" would be filled if she attempted to "look after" a bevy of typical American girls, with their independent -- yet confused -- ideas of social requirements in the matter of chaperonage.”
“Like a duenna snapping open her fan – the car snapped open a pair of elegant wings and soared off into Adventure.”
“Smith was in many respects an absurd figure, but he created a great romantic legend by falling in love with a 14-year-old Spanish girl named Juana, whose duenna threw herself and her young charge on the Rifle Brigade's mercy amid the ruins of sacked Badajoz in 1812.”
“You will perhaps be surprised to learn that his choice of chaperone … duenna … and may I say, mother?”
“And The duenna transferred one hand to her bosom, drawing a painful breath.”
“With this assurance, the duenna had allowed herself to be contented, and she had departed, sped on her way by Lady Hester's promise that a hot brick and a soothing drink would be sent up as soon as may be.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘duenna’.
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phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dysteleology, dyslogistic, dystectic, dysphoria, dysphonia, dystopia, dysphemism, dystocia, dyslogia, dysaesthesia, dyschromatopic, dysbulia and 624 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Maids
Maids of all stripes.
twait-shad, chambermaid, demoiselle, fille de chambre, housemaid, amah, lady's maid, femme-de-chambre, tire-woman, soubrette, comb-brush, abigail and 80 more...
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Joycean Vocab
You ain't read no English til you read Joyce.
rasher, cygnet, usquebaugh, ephebe, entelechy, kish, caul, vicereine, atelier, daguerreotype, communard, connubial and 99 more...
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Les Misérables
A selection of words from the epic by Victor Hugo
perquisites, dispensations, execrate, spikenard, fireplaace, effeminate foppery, delaine, hoarfrost, lackadaisicalness, ort, geldings, milch and 103 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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I, Claudius
Words taken from I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
evocation, aureus, sestertii, denarii, assegai, pilum, framea, sibyl, propitiatory, duenna, tyrannicide, maggoty and 136 more...
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Words that were new to me
but now they're not because I looked them up. In cases of polysemy or homography, *of course* it was the oddest meaning that stumped me. ;)
Procrustean bed, idem sonans, hob, backcap, quango, cheap-jack, pantechnicon, churrigueresco, chopfallen, maritorious, supererogation, catimini and 212 more...
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Lolita
Words to remember from Nabokov's "Lolita"
concordance, limned, lurid, puerility, variorum, perspicacious, exigency, acrostic, solipsism, mnemosyne, involution, fatidic and 227 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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favorite words
sawbones, grackle, celadon, brio, loam, trull, mint, saliva, serape, frisson, impasto, reek and 547 more...
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Lolita
Words compiled while reading Lolita
lolita, solecism, cognomen, etiolate, tendresse, expiatory, filch, paroxysm, arabesques, sibilant, manque, uranist and 181 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2041 more...
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zetadiction
words that embody life
hydrae, kleptocracy, curmudgeon, wordie, risotto, qi, pulchritudinous, micropolitan, schadenfreude, neolithic, experimentalist, zeta and 477 more...
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Summer 12
vitrine, viaduct, traceries, taxonomic, ternary, vicegerent, stratagem, vermeil, shippon, rostral, scherzando, retinue and 197 more...
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Seven
turnskin, therianthrope, mimic, mimical, mimetic, animagus, selkie, incantatory, cynanthrope, therianthropy, nagual, pooka and 200 more...
Tweets
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