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marquesses

 - 6 dictionary results

mar⋅quess

  [mahr-kwis]
Use marquesses in a Sentence
–noun British.
1. marquee (def. 3).
2. marquis.
Origin:
sp. var. of marquis

mar⋅quee

  [mahr-kee]
–noun
1. a tall rooflike projection above a theater entrance, usually containing the name of a currently featured play or film and its stars.
2. a rooflike shelter, as of glass, projecting above an outer door and over a sidewalk or a terrace.
3. Also, marquess, marquise. British. a large tent or tentlike shelter with open sides, esp. one for temporary use in outdoor entertainments, receptions, etc.
–adjective
4. superlative; headlining: a marquee basketball player.
Origin:
1680–90; assumed sing. of marquise, taken as pl.

mar⋅quis

  [mahr-kwis, mahr-kee; Fr. mar-kee]
–noun, plural -quis⋅es, -quis  [-keez; Fr. -kee] .
a nobleman ranking next below a duke and above an earl or count.
Also, British, marquess.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME markis < MF marquis < It marchese < ML *(comēs) marc(h)ēnsis (count) of a borderland. See march 2 , -ese
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To marquesses
mar·quis   (mär'kwĭs, mär-kē')   
n.   pl. mar·quis·es (-kwĭ-sĭz) or mar·quis (mär-kēz') or mar·quess·es (-kwĭ-sĭz)

  1. A nobleman ranking below a duke and above an earl or a count.

  2. Used as a title for such a nobleman.


[Middle English marques, from Old French marchis, marquis, from marche, border country, of Germanic origin; see merg- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

marquee 
1690, "large tent," from Fr. marquise (mistaken in Eng. as a plural) "linen canopy placed over an officer's tent to distinguish it from others'," lit. fem. of marquis, perhaps indicating "a place suitable for a marquis." Sense of "canopy over the entrance to a hotel or theater, etc." first recorded 1934 in Amer.Eng.

marquis 
c.1300, title of nobility, from O.Fr. marchis, lit. "ruler of a border area," from O.Fr. marche "frontier," from M.L. marca "frontier, frontier territory" (see march (n.)). Originally the ruler of border territories in various European nations (e.g. It. marchese, Sp. marqués); later a mere title of rank, below duke and above count.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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