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dulcinea

[duhl-sin-ee-uh, duhl-suh-nee-uh]
noun
  1. a ladylove; sweetheart.
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Origin of dulcinea

First recorded in 1740–50; after Dulcinea the ladylove of Don Quixote
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for dulcinea

Historical Examples

  • And there he would sing to Dulcinea, his platonic and only love.

    The Story of Don Quixote

    Arvid Paulson, Clayton Edwards, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

  • A swain touched then his lute, or whatever you may call it, to his Dulcinea.

  • The papers say Sylvia, your Dulcinea, has inherited a million.

    The Opal Serpent

    Fergus Hume

  • When we are young, and in love, do we go to visit Dulcinea or her brother Tom?

  • But his Dulcinea had wrought most wonderfully on his imagination.

British Dictionary definitions for dulcinea

dulcinea

noun
  1. a man's sweetheart
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Word Origin

C18: from the name of Don Quixote's mistress Dulcinea del Toboso in Cervantes' novel; from Spanish dulce sweet
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

Word Origin and History for dulcinea

Dulcinea

"sweetheart," 1748, from the name of Don Quixote's mistress in Cervantes' romance, the name a Spanish fem. derivative of Latin dulce "sweet."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper