demoiselle
Americannoun
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demoiselles
plural
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an unmarried girl or young woman.
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a damselfly, especially of the genus Agrion.
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Furniture. a lady's wig stand of the 18th century, in the form of a pedestal table.
noun
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Also called: demoiselle crane, Numidian crane. a small crane, Anthropoides virgo, of central Asia, N Africa, and SE Europe, having grey plumage with long black breast feathers and white ear tufts
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a less common name for a damselfly
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another name for damselfish
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a literary word for damsel
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of demoiselle
From French, dating back to 1760–70; see origin at damsel
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:
SAT Assam Rhino Reserve special exhibition of two young rhinos and their native neighbors, Asian brown tortoises and demoiselle cranes, opening celebration festivities, keeper talks, family activities, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2018
The zoo’s new reserve will showcase the greater one-horned rhinos, also known as Indian rhinos, Asian brown tortoises and demoiselle cranes.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 10, 2018
Founded as World War II was ending, it thrived thanks to an emerging demographic category: the demoiselle or Junior Miss, as memorialized by the writer Sally Benson in The New Yorker.
From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2014
This banded demoiselle, one of only two species of UK damselfly with coloured wings, was taken by Mark Milham beside the River Stour at Grove Ferry.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2013
One writer marveled at Osage girls who attended the best boarding schools and wore sumptuous French clothing, as if “une très jolie demoiselle of the Paris boulevards had inadvertently strayed into this little reservation town.”
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
I was a terrible painter – my portraits looked like the evil chimera love-children of Picasso's demoiselles and the BBC test card clown.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2013
The residents of this marine civilization have extravagant names like azure demoiselles, pewter angelfish, painted frogfish and saddle butterflyfish.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2012
Familiarity has inured us to the horror that these dog-faced demoiselles caused when they were first unveiled, almost a century ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
Among her bridesmaids walked sedately those two small demoiselles the Misses Camilla and Mary Esther Edge, daughters of the U. S. Ambassador.
From Time Magazine Archive
No notice was taken of Amy’s flight, except by her mates, but the sharp-eyed demoiselles discovered that Mr. Davis was quite benignant in the afternoon, also unusually nervous.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
