Messalina

[ mes-uh-lahy-nuh ]

/ ˌmɛs əˈlaɪ nə /

noun

Valeria,died a.d. 48, third wife of Claudius I.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for messalina

Messalina sacrificed human life in caprice, Agrippina assigned men to death in cold calculation.
Roman Women|Alfred Brittain
Arthur Dillon could not have been more considerate of Messalina.
The Art of Disappearing|John Talbot Smith
In favour at the court of Claudius, he owed his fall to Messalina.
Wanderings in Corsica, Vol. 1 of 2|Ferdinand Gregorovius
It was an audacious dream, because he would be thus put in the place of Britannicus, the emperors son by Messalina.
Under Csars' Shadow|Henry Francis Colby

So Messalina had suborned her sons tutor, Silius, to accuse Asiaticus of corrupting the army.
Under Csars' Shadow|Henry Francis Colby

British Dictionary definitions for messalina

Messalina

/ (ˌmɛsəˈliːnə) /

noun

Valeria (vəˈlɪərɪə). died 48 ad, wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, notorious for her debauchery and cruelty

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 messalina

Messalina

"scheming and licentious woman," 1887, in reference to Valeria Messalina, notorious third wife of Roman emperor Claudius.