7 January 2017
duenna
[doo-en-uh, dyoo-]
noun
1. (in Spain and Portugal) an older woman serving as escort or chaperon of a young lady.
2. a governess.
Origin of duenna
Spanish, Latin
1660-1670; < Spanish duenna (now dueña) < Latin domina, feminine of dominus master
Related forms
duennaship, noun
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for duenna Expand
Historical Examples
Azrael began merrily putting on her garments, and helped Mariska also to dress; then she sent the duenna with a message to Hassan.
The Slaves of the Padishah
Mr Jkai
The duenna entered, and remained standing before her master.
The Pearl of Lima
Jules Verne
Mary’s duenna ;—the artist who is supposed to be moulding the wife.
Orley Farm
Anthony Trollope
She kept me in sight like a duenna, and strangely ill-treated me.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13
Elbert Hubbard
All the while the Duke and the Duchess were in paroxysms of laughter, so well did the duenna act her part.
The Story of Don Quixote
Arvid Paulson, Clayton Edwards, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
She felt that she had been rather remiss in her duties as duenna, and was angry with herself.
Henry Dunbar
M. E. Braddon
I think it was her duenna who toppled off the edge of the gangway with one of the Chittagong crew in the push to come aboard.
From Edinburgh to India & Burmah
William G. Burn Murdoch
Then the duenna resumed, and now came the worst of her story.
The Story of Don Quixote
Arvid Paulson, Clayton Edwards, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
If I do not hate that woman it will be well, for she is as much a duenna for me as governess for the children!
Love and Life
Charlotte M. Yonge
The Sisters are the only duenna for you; and back to the convent you shall go to-morrow.
Remember the Alamo
Amelia E. Barr
Anagram
an dune
Today’s quote
When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.
– George Bernard Shaw
On this day
7 January – Christmas Day celebrated by some eastern and Orthodox churches, which is 25 December under the old Julian calendar. Most western churches celebrate Christmas on 25 December in the Gregorian calendar system which began replacing the Julian calendar throughout the world from 1582.
7 January 1943 – Death of Nikola Tesla, Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and futurist. Inventor of alternating current (A/C) electricity supply. Born 10 July 1856.
7 January 1979 – Brutal Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, is overthrown as Vietnamese forces invade Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and his army, the Khmer Rouge, were responsible for killing approximately 1.7 million people.