duenna
Americannoun
-
(in Spain and Portugal) an older woman serving as escort or chaperon of a young lady.
-
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
For 26 years on radio and TV, the Bell Telephone Hour played duenna to the world's best music and most of its best contemporary performers, from Pons and Pinza to Toscanini and Tebaldi.
From Time Magazine Archive
The show had all the virtues of the duenna -care, good taste, restraint and fondness for her charges -but also the one vice: it was often pretty dull.
From Time Magazine Archive
Said one 128 president: "We don't let our chief scientist out of town without a duenna."
From Time Magazine Archive
Cartaret crawled under the divan, while the duenna held the cover high to admit the light.
From The Azure Rose A Novel by Reginald Wright Kauffman
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.
