c.1225, from O.Fr. dame, from L.L. domna, from L. domina "lady, mistress of the house," from L. domus "house" (see domestic). Legal title for the wife of a knight or baronet. Slang sense of "woman" first attested 1902 in Amer.Eng.
Bel"dam\ Beldame \Bel"dame\, n. [Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame.]1. Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. To show the beldam daughters of her daughter. --Shak. 2. An old woman in general; especially, an ugly old woman; a hag. Around the beldam all erect they hang. --Akenside.
Dam\, n. [OE. dame mistress, lady; also, mother, dam. See Dame.]1. A female parent; -- used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother. Our sire and dam, now confined to horses, are a relic of this age (13th century) . . . .Dame is used of a hen; we now make a great difference between dame and dam. --T. L. K. Oliphant. The dam runs lowing up end down, Looking the way her harmless young one went. --Shak. 2. A kind or crowned piece in the game of draughts.
Dame\ (d[=a]m), n. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam a mother, Dan, Danger, Dungeon, Dominie, Don, n., Duenna.]1. A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a woman in authority; especially, a lady. Then shall these lords do vex me half so much, As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife. --Shak. 2. The mistress of a family in common life, or the mistress of a common school; as, a dame's school. In the dame's classes at the village school. --Emerson. 3. A woman in general, esp. an elderly woman. 4. A mother; -- applied to human beings and quadrupeds. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Dam"sel\, n. [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL. domicella, dominicella, fem., domicellus, dominicellus, masc., dim. fr. L. domina, dominus. See Dame, and cf. Demoiselle, Doncella.]1. A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales. [Obs.] 2. A young unmarried woman; a girl; a maiden. With her train of damsels she was gone, In shady walks the scorching heat to shun. --Dryden. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, . . . Goes by to towered Camelot. --Tennyson. 3. (Milling) An attachment to a millstone spindle for shaking the hopper.
Dan\, n. [OE. dan, danz, OF. danz (prop. only nom.), dan, master, fr. L. dominus. See Dame.] A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir. [Obs.] Old Dan Geoffry, in gently spright The pure wellhead of poetry did dwell. --Spenser. What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land. --Thomson.
Dan"ger\, n. [OE. danger, daunger, power, arrogance, refusal, difficulty, fr. OF. dagier, dongier (with same meaning), F. danger danger, fr. an assumed LL. dominiarium power, authority, from L. dominium power, property. See Dungeon, Domain, Dame.]1. Authority; jurisdiction; control. [Obs.] In dangerhad he . . . the young girls. --Chaucer. 2. Power to harm; subjection or liability to penalty. [Obs.] See In one's danger, below. You stand within his danger, do you not? --Shak. Covetousness of gains hath brought [them] in dangerof this statute. --Robynson (More's Utopia). 3. Exposure to injury, loss, pain, or other evil; peril; risk; insecurity. 4. Difficulty; sparingness. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 5. Coyness; disdainful behavior. [Obs.] --Chaucer. In one's danger, in one's power; liable to a penalty to be inflicted by him. [Obs.] This sense is retained in the proverb, "Out of debt out of danger." Those rich man in whose debt and danger they be not. --Robynson (More's Utopia). To do danger, to cause danger. [Obs.] --Shak. Syn: Peril; hazard; risk; jeopardy. Usage: Danger, Peril, Hazard, Risk, Jeopardy. Danger is the generic term, and implies some contingent evil in prospect. Peril is instant or impending danger; as, in peril of one's life. Hazard arises from something fortuitous or beyond our control; as, the hazard of the seas. Risk is doubtful or uncertain danger, often incurred voluntarily; as, to risk an engagement. Jeopardy is extreme danger. Danger of a contagious disease; the perils of shipwreck; the hazards of speculation; the risk of daring enterprises; a life brought into jeopardy.
De*mesne"\, n. [OE. demeine, demain, rule, demesne, OF. demeine, demaine, demeigne, domaine, power, F. domaine domain, fr. L. dominium property, right of ownership, fr. dominus master, proprietor, owner. See Dame, and cf. Demain, Domain, Danger, Dungeon.] (Law) A lord's chief manor place, with that part of the lands belonging thereto which has not been granted out in tenancy; a house, and the land adjoining, kept for the proprietor's own use. [Written also demain.] --Wharton's Law Dict. Burrill. Ancient demesne. (Eng. Law) See under Ancient.
Do*main"\, n. [F. domaine, OF. demaine, L. dominium, property, right of ownership, fr. dominus master, owner. See Dame, and cf Demesne, Dungeon.]1. Dominion; empire; authority. 2. The territory over which dominion or authority is exerted; the possessions of a sovereign or commonwealth, or the like. Also used figuratively. The domain of authentic history. --E. Everett. The domain over which the poetic spirit ranges. --J. C. Shairp. 3. Landed property; estate; especially, the land about the mansion house of a lord, and in his immediate occupancy; demesne. --Shenstone. 4. (Law) Ownership of land; an estate or patrimony which one has in his own right; absolute proprietorship; paramount or sovereign ownership. Public domain, the territory belonging to a State or to the general government; public lands. [U.S.] Right of eminent domain, that superior dominion of the sovereign power over all the property within the state, including that previously granted by itself, which authorizes it to appropriate any part thereof to a necessary public use, reasonable compensation being made.
Dom"i*na\, n. [L., lady. See Dame.] (O. Eng. Law) Lady; a lady; -- a title formerly given to noble ladies who held a barony in their own right. --Burrill.
Dom"i*nate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dominated; p. pr. & vb. n. Dominating.] [L. dominatus, p. p. of dominari to dominate, fr. dominus master, lord. See Dame, and cf. Domineer.] To predominate over; to rule; to govern. "A city dominated by the ax." --Dickens. We everywhere meet with Slavonian nations either dominant or dominated. --W. Tooke.
Do*min"ic*al\, a. [LL. dominicalis, for L. dominicus belonging to a master or lord (dominica dies the Lord's day), fr. dominus master or lord: cf. F. dominical. See Dame.]1. Indicating, or pertaining to, the Lord's day, or Sunday. 2. Relating to, or given by, our Lord; as, the dominical (or Lord's) prayer. --Howell. Some words altered in the dominical Gospels. --Fuller. Dominical altar (Eccl.), the high altar. Dominical letter, the letter which, in almanacs, denotes Sunday, or the Lord's day (dies Domini). The first seven letters of the alphabet are used for this purpose, the same letter standing for Sunday during a whole year (except in leap year, when the letter is changed at the end of February). After twenty-eight years the same letters return in the same order. The dominical letters go backwards one day every common year, and two every leap year; e. g., if the dominical letter of a common year be G, F will be the dominical letter for the next year. Called also Sunday letter. Cf. Solar cycle, under Cycle, n.
Dom"i*nie\, n. [L. dominus master. See Don, Dame.]1. A schoolmaster; a pedagogue. [Scot.] This was Abel Sampson, commonly called, from occupation as a pedagogue, Dominie Sampson. --Sir W. Scott. 2. A clergyman. See Domine, 1. [Scot. & Colloq. U. S.]
Dom"i*no\, n.; pl. Dominos or (esp. the pieces for a game) Dominoes. [F. domino, or It. domin[`o], or Sp. domin['o], fr. L. dominus master. The domino was orig. a hood worn by the canons of a cathedral. See Don, Dame.]1. A kind of hood worn by the canons of a cathedral church; a sort of amice. --Kersey. 2. A mourning veil formerly worn by women. 3. A kind of mask; particularly, a half mask worn at masquerades, to conceal the upper part of the face. Dominos were formerly worn by ladies in traveling. 4. A costume worn as a disguise at masquerades, consisting of a robe with a hood adjustable at pleasure. 5. A person wearing a domino. 6. pl. A game played by two or more persons, with twenty-eight pieces of wood, bone, or ivory, of a flat, oblong shape, plain at the back, but on the face divided by a line in the middle, and either left blank or variously dotted after the manner of dice. The game is played by matching the spots or the blank of an unmatched half of a domino already played --Hoyle. 7. One of the pieces with which the game of dominoes is played. --Hoyle.
Dom"i*nus\, n.; pl. Domini. [L., master. See Dame.] Master; sir; -- a title of respect formerly applied to a knight or a clergyman, and sometimes to the lord of a manor. --Cowell.
Don\, n. [Sp. don; akin to Pg. dom, It. donno; fr. L. dominus master. See Dame, and cf. Domine, Dominie, Domino, Dan, Dom.]1. Sir; Mr; Signior; -- a title in Spain, formerly given to noblemen and gentlemen only, but now common to all classes. Don is used in Italy, though not so much as in Spain France talks of Dom Calmet, England of Dom Calmet, England of Dan Lydgate. --Oliphant. 2. A grand personage, or one making pretension to consequence; especially, the head of a college, or one of the fellows at the English universities. [Univ. Cant] "The great dons of wit." --Dryden.
Du*en"na\, n.; pl. Duennas. [Sp. due[~n]a, do[~n]a, fr. L. domina. See Dame.]1. The chief lady in waiting on the queen of Spain. --Brande. 2. 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. --Brande & C. 3. Any old woman who is employed to guard a younger one; a governess. --Arbuthnot.
Dun"geon\, n. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a castle, LL. domnio, the same word as LL. dominus lord. See Dame, Don, and cf. Dominion, Domain, Demesne, Danger, Donjon.] A close, dark prison, common?, under ground, as if the lower apartments of the donjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. Down with him even into the deep dungeon. -- Tyndale. Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon. -- Macaulay.
Ma`dame"\, n.; pl. Mesdames. [F., fr. ma my (L. mea) + dame dame. See Dame, and cf. Madonna.] My lady; -- a French title formerly given to ladies of quality; now, in France, given to all married women. --Chaucer.
Ma*don"na\, n. [It. madonna my lady. See Dame, Donna, and cf. Madame, Monkey.]1. My lady; -- a term of address in Italian formerly used as the equivalent of Madame, but for which Signora is now substituted. Sometimes introduced into English. --Shak. 2. [pl. Madonnas (n[.a]z).] A picture of the Virgin Mary (usually with the babe). The Italian painters are noted for drawing the Madonnas by their own wives or mistresses. --Rymer.
Tame\, a. [Compar. Tamer; superl. Tamest.] [AS. tam; akin to D. tam, G. zahm, OHG. zam, Dan. & Sw. tam, Icel. tamr, L. domare to tame, Gr. ?, Skr. dam to be tame, to tame, and perhaps to E. beteem. [root]61. Cf. Adamant, Diamond, Dame, Daunt, Indomitable.]1. Reduced from a state of native wildness and shyness; accustomed to man; domesticated; domestic; as, a tame deer, a tame bird. 2. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless. Tame slaves of the laborious plow. --Roscommon. 3. Deficient in spirit or animation; spiritless; dull; flat; insipid; as, a tame poem; tame scenery. Syn: Gentle; mild; meek. See Gentle.
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