quean

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“
Where's the quean will be his consort?

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A woman regarded as being disreputable, especially a prostitute.
  2. noun Scots A young woman.

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Examples (50)

  • Troth! the quean is not ill-favoured; but ye ha' lost a gude day's sport, Count, forbye ither losses which we sall na particularize. —  The Star-Chamber, Volume 1 An Historical Romance
  • Juno! you pouting quean, you louring trull, Take heed I take you not; for by Jove's thunder I'll be reveng'd APPETITUS draws VISUS backward from TACTUS APP. —  A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 9
  • A cunning quean, a very cunning quean, Go to your business, Block; I'll meet with her BLO. —  A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 7
  • My honest father the deacon had a byword Brent brow and lily skin A loving heart, and a leal within Is better than gowd or gentle kin Besides," as he always concluded, "Mattie was nae ordinary lassock-quean; she was akin to the Laird o' Limmerfield Whether it was owing to her descent or her good gifts, I do not presume to decide; but Mattie behaved excellently in her exaltation, and relieved the apprehensions of some of the Bailie's friends, who had deemed his experiment somewhat hazardous. —  Rob Roy — Complete
  • And this mad quean, after cracking like a pen-gun, and skirling like a pea-hen for the haill night, behoves just to hae hadden her tongue when her clavers might have dune some gude! —  The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Complete
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English quene, from Old English cwene, woman; see gwen- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. (a) Also dial. (Scots) quine; early modern English queane, quene; from Middle English quene, quen, cwene, from Anglo-Saxon cwēne, cwy¯ne (genitive cwēnan), properly cwěne, orig. *cwǐne, a woman (Latin femina, mulier), wife (Latin uxor) (cf. cwēnfugol, a henbird—a doubtful word in Somner), = Old Saxon quena, wife, queen (Latin regina), harlot (Latin meretrix), = Old Dutch quene, wife, Middle Dutch quene, a vain or worthless woman, a barren woman, also a barren cow, Dutch kween, a barren woman, a barren cow, = Middle Low German quene, an old woman, Low German quene, a barren cow, a heifer, = Old High German quena (quëna), chwena, chena, Middle High German chone, kone, kon, G. (obsolete) kone, a woman, German dial. kan, chan, a woman, wife, = Icelandic kvenna = Swedish qvinna = Danish kvinde, a woman (cf. contr. Icelandic kona, woman, = Swedish kona, a harlot, = Danish kone, a woman, especially a married woman, wife), = Gothic (Moesogothic) qinō, a woman, wife (Greek γυνή); the above forms being distinct from, though partly confused with (b) English queen (Latin regina), from Middle English queen, quen, quene, kuen, cwene, cwen, from Anglo-Saxon cwēn, rarely cwǣn (genitive cwēne), a woman (Latin femina), wife (Latin uxor), queen (Latin regina, imperatrix, augusta), = Old Saxon quān, wife, = Old High German quēna, chuuēna = Icelandic kvān, kvæn, wife, = Gothic (Moesogothic) kwēws, rarely kweins, wife (not recorded in sense of ‘queen’); both forms ult. akin to Irish Gaelic coinne, a woman; Greek γυνή, a woman, female (see gynæceum, gynarchy, etc., gynecocracy, etc.); Sanskrit jāni, a wife, apparently from √ jan = Greek √ γεν = L. √ gen = Teutonic √ ken, bring forth: see ken. kin, genus, generate, etc.
 

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