quean
Americannoun
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Archaic. an overly forward, impudent woman; shrew; hussy.
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Archaic. a prostitute.
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British Dialect. Sometimes quine a girl or young woman, especially a robust one.
noun
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archaic
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a boisterous, impudent, or disreputable woman
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a prostitute; whore
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a young unmarried woman or girl
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of quean
First recorded before 1000; Middle English quene, Old English cwene; cognate with Middle Dutch quene, kone, Old Saxon, Old High German quena, Gothic qino, from unattested Germanic kwenōn-; akin to Old English cwēn “woman, queen” ( see queen)
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.
It’s yon flaysome, graceless quean, that’s witched our lad, wi’ her bold een and her forrard ways—till—Nay! it fair brusts my heart!
From Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The said wardens, both carle and quean, were goodly folk of middle age, stalwart, and kind of face.
From The Well at the World's End: a tale by William Morris
Ay, ay," answered Rob, "she's under lawfu' authority now; and full time, for she was a daft hempie—But she's a mettle quean.
From Rob Roy — Volume 02 by Sir Walter Scott
But the other night comes a Highland quean of a lass, and she flashes, God kens what, out at the eastmost window of Mrs. MacPhail's house, that's the superior tenement.
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Sir Walter Scott
Deil a wig has a provost of Fairport worn sin' auld Provost Jervie's time—and he had a quean of a servant-lass that dressed it herself, wi' the doup o' a candle and a drudging-box.
From The Antiquary — Volume 01 by Sir Walter Scott
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.
