dulcinea

[duhl-sin-ee-uh, duhl-suh-nee-uh]

noun

a ladylove; sweetheart.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for dulcinea

Historical Examples of dulcinea

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 Lady and the Pirate
Emerson Hough
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?
The Youth of Jefferson
J. E. Cooke.
But his Dulcinea had wrought most wonderfully on his imagination.
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Isaac D'Israeli

British Dictionary definitions for dulcinea

dulcinea

noun

a man's sweetheart

Word Origin for dulcinea

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."