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.
Idleness is the stepdame of virtue, as our preachers have often told us.
From Arthurian Chronicles: Roman de Brut by Eugene Mason
Anybody would have guessed Miss to have been bred up under the influence of a cruel stepdame, and John to be the fondling of a tender mother.
From History of John Bull by John Arbuthnot
I haue a stepdame I warrant you, and myne husbandes mother euen such another.
From A Merry Dialogue Declaringe the Properties of Shrowde Shrews and Honest Wives by Desiderius Erasmus
As false As air, as water, as wind, as sandy earth; As fox to lamb; as wolf to heifer's calf; Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son.
From Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations by Various
Insomuch as it is hard to judge, whether in so doing she hath done the part of a kind mother, or a hard and cruell stepdame.
From Notes and Queries, Number 233, April 15, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by Various
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