| 释义 |
duenna|djuːˈɛnə|
Also 7 douegna, 8 duegna, duena.
[Sp. dueña (ˈdweɲa), formerly spelt duenna, married lady, mistress (fem. of dueño master):—L. domina lady, mistress.]
1. a. The chief lady in waiting upon the queen of Spain. b. An elderly woman, occupying a position between governess and companion, and having charge over the girls of a Spanish family.
1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 64 I am call'd (says she) Douegna, or Madam the Gouvernante. 1681Dryden Sp. Friar i. ii, Enter Elvira's Duenna, and whispers to her. 1715C'tess D'Anois Wks. 141 One of my Lady Constable's Duegna's desir'd to speak with her. 1761H. Walpole Lett. to Mann 10 Sept. (1857) III. 435 Kitty Dashwood..living in the palace as Duenna to the queen. 1832W. Irving Alhambra I. 293 The Princesses hung round their old duenna, and coaxed, and entreated.
2. Any elderly woman whose duty it is to watch over a young one; a chaperon.
1708S. Centlivre Busie Body ii. ii, You are her duenna. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1859) 111 There is no duenna so rigidly prudent, and inexorably decorous, as a superannuated coquette. 1827Scott Jrnl. 18 Jan., He used..to have a duenna of a housekeeper to sit in his study with him while he wrote. 1877Rita Vivienne vi. i, Her home is guarded by a dragon-like duenna.
3. Comb., as duenna-like adj.
1802H. Martin Helen of Glenross I. 188, I never had Duenna-like talents.
Hence (nonce-wds.) duennadom, the realm of duennas; duennaship, the position or office of a duenna; duenna-ish, duennesque adjs., like or characteristic of a duenna.
1821Examiner 205/1 Her voice and eye were..not at all Duenna-ish. 1876Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly III. 123 The ancient dames of duennadom may purse their withered lips. 1881A. J. Duffield Don Quix. III. xxxviii. 320 When the duennesque squadron had finished coming in. 1884Hunter & Whyte My Ducats & My Dau. xi. (1885) 154 Camilla's aunt..regulated Mr. Arden's household affairs, and exercised a shadowy duennaship over his daughter. |