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.
I don't set store by clothes, meself; but a fine han'some quean they make of ye.
From Lady Good-for-Nothing by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
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
A plaguy, crafty quean, marry a God, I see Prince John courted as well as I; And since he shall be mock'd as well as I, It's some contentment.
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 7 by Various
Wench meant at first nothing worse than girl or daughter, quean than woman, hussy than housewife; even woman is generally felt to be half-slighting.
From The Century Vocabulary Builder by Bachelor, Joseph M. (Joseph Morris)
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 Morris, William
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.
