madam:
1. A woman ; a lady . A polite term of address. Abbreviation: Mdm. Plural: mesdames.ETYMOLOGY: Middle English borrowing from the French , ma dame , my lady , my beloved . In the Renaissance its meaning shifted referring to a kept mistress , a prostitute and later the manageress of a brothel .
2. Respectful and courteous form of address for a woman , especially if elderly or married , formerly used as a courtesy title before a woman's given name but now used mostly before a surname or title indicating rank or office. Madam Chairman. Madam President. Madam Ambassador .
3. The female head or mistress of a household.
4. Or: madame , a woman who manages a brothel , derived from its original meaning of mistress of the house or woman in charge of the household.
Synonyms: abbess ; ass-middlewoman ; aunt ; bawd ; brothel-keeper ; case-keeper ; Covent-Garden-abbess ; crack-detail-woman ; dress-lodger ; female pimp ; governess ; house-mother ; housekeeper ; housemother ; Lady-Abbess ; landlady ; mama-san ; mother-damnable ; mother ; mother-abbess ; mother-hollyhock ; moher midnight; mother-of-the-maids ; mother-superior ; presbyteress ; procuress ; proxenetist ; she-pimp ; sister-in-law ; skirt-woman ; tenderloin-madam ; victualler ; whoremistress .
QUOTES:
(1) Mrs. Sally Adams (Ethel Merman), a Washington hostess later named ambassador to Lichtenburg, in Call Me Madam (1953): ' When you call me madam, smile .'
(2) Sung by Queenie (Raquel Welch) in The Wild Party (1975): ' Sally turned from Miss to Madam .'
5. An elderly male homosexual .
6. Proper madam , in England, a girl with a bad temper.
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