Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The female grandparent of an animal, especially a domesticated mammal such as a horse.
  • noun The mother of one's father or mother; a grandmother.
  • noun An old woman.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An old woman; especially, a grandmother.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An old woman; specifically, a grandmother.

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

  • noun grandmother
  • noun old lady, elderly woman

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English grandame, from Old French dame-grant : dame, lady; see dame + grand, grant, great; see grand.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the French grand dame

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Examples

  • Judith Merril was known as the grandam of science fiction and Phyllis as the mother of Canadian SF.

    Canadian SF Giant Dies « Colleen Anderson 2009

  • "When my father told me that my grandam" ( "grandam" has a good sound always, like a great oath) "had been murdered by de Morimont of Morimont Castle, I swore that the murder should not go unavenged.

    How to Write a Novel for the Masses 1969

  • "When my father told me that my grandam" ( "grandam" has a good sound always, like a great oath) "had been murdered by de Morimont of Morimont Castle, I swore that the murder should not go unavenged.

    How to Write a Novel for the Masses 1901

  • "When my father told me that my grandam" ( "grandam" has a good sound always, like a great oath) "had been murdered by de Morimont of Morimont Castle, I swore that the murder should not go unavenged.

    How to Write a Novel for the Masses 1901

  • If they put Raul in the first movie other than being a baby or a youngster in the end with grandam then I will not see the movies to damaged the integrity of the books in such a way would be horrible!

    Dan Simmons's Hyperion Sci-Fi Series Being Adapted by Warner Bros « FirstShowing.net 2008

  • Shahriman showed the more kindness to Julnar and honoured her with increase of honour; and the little one grew up and flourished, whilst his maternal uncle and grandam and cousins visited the King every few days and abode with him a month or two months at a time.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • He had a religious side as the miracle-working leader of a cult that believed in the transmigration of souls (that "the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird," as Shakespeare's Malvolio puts it in "Twelfth Night").

    The Reach of an Ancient Greek 2008

  •     Credibly; so grandsire, grandam alike did agree.

    Poems and Fragments 2006

  • Boy! it was happy for thy grandam that she loved me not.

    Roundabout Papers 2006

  •     Credibly; so grandsire, grandam alike did agree.

    Poems and Fragments 2006

Comments

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  • Shakespearean for 'grandmother'

    April 24, 2009

  • The visuals for this are almost as interesting as the related words.

    December 3, 2015

  • The horse Mad Nag (mis-emordnilaped after his grandam Grandam), suffering from an incurable disease and traumatised by foalhood memories of a breeder's horsepornstache, used a rare shotgun and beaten-up blue getaway car in a spate of robberies. Now an equine legend, the nostalgia of banditry means he must always be portrayed in sepia.
    THE END

    December 3, 2015