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‖ prima donna|ˈpriːmə, ˈpraɪmə ˈdɒnə|
Pl. prime donne, (prima donnas).
[It. (ˈprima ˈdonna) ‘first lady’.]
1. The first or principal female singer in an opera. Also prima donna assoluta [It., lit. = absolute], a prima donna of outstanding excellence.
[1768[W. Donaldson] Life Sir B. Sapskull II. viii. 53 So great is the infatuation of playing, and the secret satisfaction of being the prima of a Company so prevalent, that [etc.]. ]1782W. Beckford Let. 5 Apr. in J. W. Oliver Life William Beckford (1932) v. 110 Our Prima Donna, Miss Fawkener..has real talent. 1812Southey Lett., to Miss Barker 3 May, An author, like a prima donna, has a sort of dignity from appearing sometimes incog., when, in reality, everybody knows him. 1842Longfellow in Life (1891) I. 433 The prima donna of the Düsseldorf theatre. 1855Geo. Eliot in Fraser's Mag. LII. 50/2 He will..interpolate no cantata to show off the powers of a prima donna assoluta. 1880W. S. Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 509/1 [In an Opera] the First Woman (Prima donna) was always a high Soprano. 1887J. A. F. Maitland in Dict. Nat. Biog. XII. 274/1 In managing recalcitrant prime donne and other mutinous persons. 1938Oxf. Compan. Mus. 749/2 The term Prima Donna Assoluta (‘absolute first lady’) is sometimes used to make perfectly clear the position of the very most important woman member of an opera company. 1958Listener 14 Aug. 250/2 A singer who is hailed as a prima donna assoluta. 1976S. Galatopoulos (title) Callas: prima donna assoluta.
2. transf. and fig. A person of the highest standing in a particular field or activity; one who behaves in a self-important or temperamental manner.
1834[see Angrian a.]. 1846Swell's Night Guide 36 Here also hang out some of the prima donnas of the flags and curbs, some of the small fry of 80, Quadrant. 1861B. Hemying in H. Mayhew London Labour (1862) Extra vol. 215/1 Two classes of prostitutes come under this denomination—first, kept mistresses, and secondly, prima donnas or those who live in a superior style. 1877A. Macmillan Let. in C. Morgan House of Macmillan (1943) vii. 117 It is clear that our Prima Donna must be paid on a different scale from the others. 1936Amer. Mercury May p. x/2 Prima donna, the first-class gripe artist; a temperamental [jazz] musician. 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 639/3 We see her [sc. Madame de Stael]..as the ‘prima donna’, exacting, torrential and exasperating. 1943Sun (Baltimore) 24 Sept. 14/2 A willingness to merge his identity with that of the journal of which he was a part. He was no prima donna. 1948D. Cecil Two Quiet Lives ii. 146 The most trivial points..were enough to produce a violent explosion of prima donna temperament. 1970S. Ellin Bind iv. 22 You've been putting on a prima donna act for the last hour. What's it all about? 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon ix. 140 He had invited Royal Robbins..to be chief [climbing] instructor, and the two men, both prima donnas in their own right, could not have offered a greater contrast. 1976Botham & Donnelly Valentino iv. 34 Di Valentina was rapidly becoming the prima donna of the Manhattan cabaret set. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 537/2 The industrial designer tends often to adopt the rôle of catalyst rather than that of a prima-donna in his relationship with his colleagues in the development team.
Hence as v. intr.; also prima ˈdonna-ish a., prima ˈdonnaism, prima-ˈdonnaship.
1889Scottish Art Rev. II. 114 Miss Macintyre..is still too young and amateurish to make it possible to predict whether she will be..spoiled by her early prima-donnaship. 1940E. Hemingway For whom Bell Tolls xiv. 181 Stop prima-donnaing and accept the fact. 1961A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo i. 25 It..served to increase my dislike for their unusual touchy, prima donna-ish relationship. 1969P. Dickinson Pride of Heroes i. 16 Pibble had taken a prima-donna-ish dislike to the stationmaster. 1970‘B. Mather’ Break in Line ix. 117, I felt no resentment... It was going to be hairy enough without any prima-donnaing on my part. 1970C. F. Hockett Leonard Bloomfield Anthol. p. xiv, We can still know..his reaction to the pettishness, the prima-donnaism, the neglect of already accumulated experience, and the antiscientific bias that have all too often characterized our discussions. 1973‘B. Mather’ Snowline vi. 73 He is apt to get prima donna-ish when he is out of temper. 1980Daily Tel. 14 Jan. 12 We hope that he will go on being equally modest and lazy, cocking a snook at the prima-donna-ish antics of some chess masters while continuing from strength to strength. |