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landlady

American  
[land-lay-dee] / ˈlændˌleɪ di /

noun

  • landladies
    plural
  1. a woman who owns and leases an apartment, house, land, etc., to others.

  2. a woman who owns or runs an inn, rooming house, or boardinghouse.


landlady British  
/ ˈlændˌleɪdɪ /

noun

  1. a woman who owns and leases property

  2. a landlord's wife

  3. a woman who owns or runs a lodging house, pub, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of landlady

First recorded in 1530–40; land + lady


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“We now live in a large duplex with our landlady and her daughter,” Maggie tells me.

From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026

Also, this was no time to be a picky landlady.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

June asks the landlady, who answers, “Kid who lived here got drafted.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026

Among them is Miss Connulty, a respected landlady, whose tragic past prompts her to warn Ellie that “love was a madness.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026

His landlady found him dead in his bed, the water in his washbasin frozen solid.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

"It's not just people in the music industry, this was also happening to barmaids, pub landladies and people's mums," she said.

From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026

The demonstration was organised by two landladies in Gedling, Nottinghamshire, and was attended by people of all ages.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2021

Even picture postcards, Igo relates in one of many humorous and eye-opening vignettes, came under fire for enabling, one magazine’s editors wrote, “servants and landladies to have the full benefit of our private matters.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2018

The landladies run their fingers along the tops of wardrobes, tutting, while the men argue about their Visit Britain accreditation, mouths full of tepid bacon.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 20, 2010

It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that there is something psychic about landladies.

From Turns about Town by Robert Cortes Holliday

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