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.
Yet they knew us all the while, in their hearts, for what we are —Worst couple, rogue and quean, unhanged—search near and far!
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Clarke, Helen Archibald
Thinks the false quean by such a sleight, that chill my nee'le lack?
From Gammer Gurton's Needle by Art, Mr. S. Mr. of
There forsooth the two women be missing, but no slain body of carle or quean have we found, nought of slaughter save the slaughter of kine and sheep.
From The Sundering Flood by Morris, May
It should be noted that E. queen is not precisely the same word as E. quean.
From A Concise Dictionary of Middle English From A.D. 1150 to 1580 by Mayhew, A. L. (Anthony Lawson)
Joseph was the only objector, and he appealed to Heathcliff against 'yon flaysome graceless quean, that's witched our lad wi' her bold een and her forrad ways.'
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 02 — Fiction by Mee, Arthur
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.
