Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of madam.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Houghton "madams" stood side by side with their domestic workers, waiting to vote.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • In the queue at Arcadia, white matrons -- or "madams" as they are called here -- stood alongside their black maids and gardeners who were about to vote in a formerly all-white school they would not have been allowed to attend.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • The story last year led to a flood of calls to AIDS centres from worried white "madams" wanting their maids tested.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1992

  • "When issues such as informed consent, the right to refuse a test and the confidentiality of results were explained the resultant anger revealed the sense of ownership felt by most 'madams',"

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1992

  • There were many wealthy, powerful, and famous madams who had been born into slavery.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Biographies of virtually all the major madams include at least one story of armed self-defense against a male assailant.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Though they were certainly exploited in brothels, madams and prostitutes had wielded considerable power in their relations with customers.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Headed by august gentlemen but staffed mostly by female social workers, the vice commissions conducted investigations using undercover agents, publicized their findings in local newspapers, and lobbied aggressively for municipal and state authorities to take action against brothels, madams, prostitutes, and their clients.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • After the 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of San Francisco, Hayman and other madams provided food and clothing to the thousands left homeless.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • Several madams were so wealthy that they funded irrigation and road-building projects that laid the foundation for the New West.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

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