dame

Meaning

Noun

1. Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.
2. A matron at a school, especially Eton College.
3. In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.
4. (informal) A woman.
5. A lady, a woman.
6. The hereditary feudal ruler (seigneur) of Sark, when the title is held by a woman in her own right.
7. (slang) A queen.

Verb

To make a dame.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/deɪm/

Etymology

From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.