stepdame
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of stepdame
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at step-, dame
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.
Beautiful, brilliant, and ambitious, the young and restless Armine quitted, in his eighteenth year, the house of his fathers, and his stepdame of a country, and entered the Imperial service.
From Henrietta Temple A Love Story by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
Two cases will th’ affair explain— The good Hippolytus was slain; In that his stepdame credit found, And Troy was levell’d with the ground; Because Cassandra’s prescious care Sought, but obtain’d no credence there.
From The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes by Henry T. (Henry Thomas) Riley
There is A spur in its halt movements, to become All that the others cannot, in such things As still are free to both, to compensate320 For stepdame Nature's avarice at first.
From The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 5 Poetry by Ernest Hartley Coleridge
"Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth," said another poet, "never did any milk of hers once bless my thirsting mouth."
From The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces by Joyce Kilmer
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of her enraged stepdame Guendolin, Commended her fair innocence to the flood, That stay’d her flight with his cross-flowing course.
From A Tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire by J. T. Barber
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