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sultana

[suhl-tan-uh, -tah-nuh]
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noun
  1. a small, seedless raisin.
  2. a wife or a concubine of a sultan.
  3. a sister, daughter, or mother of a sultan.
  4. a mistress, especially of a king or other royal personage.
  5. Also called old amethyst. a deep purplish-red color.
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Origin of sultana

1575–85; < Italian, feminine of sultano sultan
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sultana

Historical Examples

  • Chop also a dozen pippins, and two pounds of sultana raisins.

    Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

    Eliza Leslie

  • Sultana raisins, naturally seedless, are made from Sultanina and the Sultana.

  • These rags will become cloth of gold on the body of the Sultana of Sultanas.

    Sacrifice

    Stephen French Whitman

  • These were in turn offered to the Caliph and the Sultana by their surrounding attendants.

    Alroy

    Benjamin Disraeli

  • Yes, you will be a sultana, but I—I shall be dead and I shall never see you again.

    The Nabob

    Alphonse Daudet

British Dictionary definitions for sultana

sultana

noun
    1. the dried fruit of a small white seedless grape, originally produced in SW Asia: used in cakes, curries, etc; seedless raisin
    2. the grape itself
  2. Also called: sultaness a wife, concubine, or female relative of a sultan
  3. a mistress; concubine
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Word Origin

C16: from Italian, feminine of sultano sultan
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sultana

n.

1580s, from Italian sultana, fem. of sultano (see sultan).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper