duenna
Americannoun
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(in Spain and Portugal) an older woman serving as escort or chaperon of a young lady.
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a governess.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of duenna
First recorded in 1660–70; from older Spanish duenna (modern Spanish dueña ), from Latin domina, feminine of dominus “lord, master”
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.
Georgian discipline . . . a sketch of Sheridan’s duenna, or chaperone The early life of 18th-century playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan sounds like the stuff of .
From The Guardian ● Sep. 29, 2010
Said one 128 president: "We don't let our chief scientist out of town without a duenna."
From Time Magazine Archive
Still the reader finds Melville awkward and even embarrassed in the presence of poetry, as if poetry were attended by a duenna and not a muse.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tatum's duenna, friend and confidante on the set is Diane Lewis, 34, the wife of Hedgemon, a black boxer Ryan O'Neal promoted.
From Time Magazine Archive
His daughter, the pretty girl we saw at the International, was with him most of the time, and afterward her duenna treated me very well.
From The Coast of Adventure by Harold Bindloss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
