grandam
Americannoun
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a grandmother.
-
an old woman.
noun
Etymology
Origin of grandam
1175–1225; Middle English gra ( u ) ndame < Old French grant dame. See grand, dame
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.
To many of her contemporaries Eleanor was a byword for wantonness, in Shakespeare four centuries later a "canker'd grandam"; by the time of Victoria, Charles Dickens thought it sufficient to call Eleanor "a bad woman."
From Time Magazine Archive
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By the Games of 2022, it may be grandam Kissling who is declaring that, say, rhythmic snow dancing does not deserve to be elevated alongside her time-honored pursuit.
From Time Magazine Archive
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My old grandam was wont to say they go by contraries; dream of a weddin', she would say, sure there would be a funeral.
From With Drake on the Spanish Main by Herbert Strang
And to Sophy there came the words of Constance: "Do, child, go to it, grandam, child: Give grandam kingdom, and it' grandam will Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig."
From Shadows of Flames A Novel by Amélie Rives
Mayhap the speech of my good grandam might mislead thee into thinking me but a sorry flirt.
From The Fifth of November A Romance of the Stuarts by Charles S. Bentley
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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.