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.
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
She vow'd, she swore she wad be mine, She said she lo'ed me best o' onie; But, ah! the fickle, faithless quean, She 's ta'en the carl, and left her Johnnie!
From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume I. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century by Rogers, Charles
Then, after the feast ye shall dance—dance, Elsie, as danced that other bonnie quean they caaed the dochter o' Herodias.
From Deep Moat Grange by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
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
He was in a crunkle o’ green brae, a wee below the chaipel, a’ by his lee-lane, and lowped and flang and danced like a daft quean at a waddin’.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 11 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
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.
