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Duchess vs Lady - What's the difference?

duchess | lady |

As nouns the difference between duchess and lady

is that duchess is the female spouse or widow of a duke while lady is   The mistress of a household.

As proper nouns the difference between duchess and lady

is that duchess is a village in Alberta, Canada while Lady is the title for the (primary) female deity in female-centered religions.

As a verb duchess

is to court or curry favour for political or business advantage; to flatter obsequiously.

duchess

English

Noun

(es)
  • The female spouse or widow of a duke.
  • * 2012 , Caroline Davies, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announce they are expecting first baby'' (in ''The Guardian , 3 December 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/03/duke-and-duchess-of-cambridge-expecting-baby?intcmp=122]
    • The Duke and Duchess' of Cambridge have ended months of intense speculation by announcing they are expecting their first child, but were forced to share their news earlier than hoped because of the ' Duchess's admission to hospital on Monday.
  • The female ruler of a duchy (where women can reign).

    • Related terms

    * archduchess * grand duchess

    Verb

    (es)
  • (UK, informal) to court or curry favour for political or business advantage; to flatter obsequiously.
  • * 1956 , John Thomas Lang, I Remember , page 64,
    • On arrival in England he was “duchessed'” in a manner that no Australian Prime Minister has ever been “' duchessed ” before or since. Northcliffe was looking for someone around whom he could build a campaign against Asquith. Hughes filled the bill nicely.
  • * 1996 , , 2003, page 46,
    • ‘A word to the wise, Murray. Those wogs you?ve been duchessing at Ethnic Affairs have got nothing on the culture vultures. Tear the flesh right off your bones, they will.’
  • * 2004 , , A New Britannia , Fourth Edition, page 66,
    • The traditional version of Hughes? decision to introduce conscription gives central importance to his visit to London in April 1916 where it is alleged he was duchessed and deceived concerning recruitment figures.
  • * 2006 , Jacqueline Dickenson, Renegades and Rats: Betrayal and the Remaking of Radical Organisations in Britain and Australia , page 144,
    • But by 1914 Grayson had, according to Groves, been thoroughly duchessed , believing that he could enjoy the good things in life and still serve the cause.

    lady

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia lady) (ladies)
  • (historical)  The mistress of a household.
  • *
    • , chapter=16 , passage="he said to her, From whence comest thou Hagar, the servantess of Sarai (Sarai’s slave-girl), and whither goest thou? Which answered, I flee from the face of Sarai, my lady.”}}
  • A woman of breeding or higher class, a woman of authority.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=6 citation , passage=‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.}}
  • * Lowell
    • lord or lady of high degree
  • * Shakespeare
    • Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, / We make thee lady .
  • (polite, or, used by children) A woman: an adult female human.
  • (in the plural)
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • (slang)
  • Toilets intended for use by women.
  • (familiar) A wife or girlfriend; a sweetheart.
  • * (William Shakespeare), (Romeo and Juliet)
    • But soft, what light through yonder window breaks...? It is my lady , O it is my love!
    (Goldsmith)
  • A woman to whom the particular homage of a knight was paid; a woman to whom one is devoted or bound.
  • * Waller
    • The soldier here his wasted store supplies, / And takes new valour from his lady's eyes.
  • (slang) A queen (the playing card).
  • (dated, attributive, with a professional title) Who is a woman.
  • (Wicca) .
  • The triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster, consisting of calcareous plates; so called from a fancied resemblance to a seated female figure.

    • Derived terms

    * bag lady * charlady * dragon lady * the First Lady * forelady * gray lady * ladies and gentlemen * lady's bedstraw * lady's eardrop * lady's laces * lady's man * lady's mantle * lady's slipper * lady's thistle * lady's thumb * lady abbess * lady beetle * lady bird/lady-bird/ladybird * Lady Bountifel * lady bug/lady-bug/ladybug * Lady Campbell * lady chapel * ladyclock * lady crab * Lady Day * lady fern/lady-fern * lady's finger * ladyfinger * lady friend * Lady Godiva * lady-in-waiting * lady killer, lady-killer, ladykiller * ladylike * ladylove * Lady Macbeth strategy * Lady McLeod * lady of leisure * lady of pleasure * lady of the house * lady of the night * lady or tiger * ladyship * lady smock * lady who lunches * landlady * leading lady * lollipop lady * lunch lady/lunch-lady/lunchlady * m'lady/malady/milady * naked lady * no way to treat a lady * old lady * one fat lady * Our Lady * painted lady * Pink Lady/pink lady * saleslady * Tupperware lady * two fat ladies * saleslady * white lady * young lady * (lady)

    References

    * Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523

    See also

    * lord * gentleman * ladies' room * broad

    Statistics

    * English terms of address 1000 English basic words ----