fine ladyn.
/ˌfʌɪn ˈleɪdi/, U.S. /ˌfaɪn ˈleɪdi/ Now somewhat rare.
A woman of refined or decorous manners and character; (also) a fashionable woman. Also (ironic or depreciative): a woman who dresses ostentatiously, affects manners viewed as being above her social rank or position, or is preoccupied with her appearance. Cf. fine adj. 11, fine gentleman n.In early use perhaps not a fixed collocation.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [noun] > member of > female
fine lady1577
girl about ( the) towna1701
élégante1797
lionne1846
flâneuse1879
mondaine1888
mundane1897
nymph1898
Sloane Ranger1975
bright young thing2016
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [noun] > person > female
Jane-of-apes1624
fine lady1801
fliskmahoy1816
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 125 The fine Ladyes [L. delicatæ..mulieres] of the countrey doo ryde vpon Asses richely furnished.
1580 T. Cooper Certaine Serm. i. 16 The fine Ladyes and Gentlewomen.
1611 B. Jonson Catiline ii. sig. D2 Shee has beene a fine Ladie..and paints, and hides Her decayes very well. View more context for this quotation
1664 S. Pepys Diary 14 June (1971) V. 179 A fine lady..and very well carriaged and mighty discreet.
1707 M. Lovett Let. 26 Mar. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. 18th Cent. (1930) I. xii. 200 There was all the Beaux and fine Ladys in town.
1728 J. Gay Beggar's Opera i. iv. 6 She loves to imitate the fine Ladies.
1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda II. xxi. 310 The poor gardener, who had been cheated by some fine ladies out of his aloe.
1852 L. A. Meredith My Home in Tasmania I. xi. 177 These [sc. ear-drops]..remind me of the long gold earrings of some pretty, vain, fine lady.
1961 L. H. Sullivan Democracy ii. vii. 112 The non-resistant rag doll is princess, fine lady, Queen.
2009 T. A. Green Latino Amer. Folktales 46 She..asked for clothes, a coach and servants, and all that was needful..as a fine lady.
Compounds
General attributive and appositive.
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1682 G. Raynsford in N. Tate Ingratitude of Common-wealth Prol. sig. A4 Fine Lady Criticks—on whose fragrant Breath, Depends the Plays long Life, or sudden Death.
c1824 J. W. Carlyle Early Lett. (1889) 84 At the first she was quite intolerable with her fine-lady airs, and toploftical notions.
1862 J. W. Carlyle Let. 25 Dec. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (2011) XXXIX. 19 I had got a little girl..in place of my fine-Lady Housemaid.
1893 K. Simpson Jeanie o' Biggersdale 115 Romany lasses could not expect to lead fine-lady lives.
1972 E. N. James Devel. G. Farquhar as Comic Dramatist viii. 229 Lurewell exhibits her fine lady airs—her extreme disagreeableness—to her husband and her servants.
2008 M. Tilly First Time xiii. 84 She..makes a fine lady face, extends her hand, her pinkie lifted up.
Derivatives
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society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [adverb] > in manner of member of
ladylike1594
sparkishly1676
fine-ladically1811
rakily1904
1811 Ld. Byron Let. 13 Oct. (1973) II. 111 I am growing..fine-ladically nervous.
fine-ˈladyish adj. of the nature of a fine lady; finicky, fastidious.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > affecting refinement
young-ladyfied1616
genteel1631
genteea1680
fal-lal1747
shabby-genteel1754
fine-ladylike1755
fine-ladyish1777
ladyish1830
silver-fork1831
haw-haw1841
lardy-dardy1861
la-di-dac1883
refained1925
1777 F. Burney Jrnl. 7 Apr. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1990) II. 258 Rather than appear finical & fine ladyish, I got out.
1867 H. Kingsley Silcote of Silcotes III. viii. 134 A very pretty voice indeed; but—well, a little too fine-ladyish, the thing just a very little overdone.
1995 S. Foster & J. Simons What Katy Read iii. 78 He himself is contemptuous of what he considers to be his own fine-ladyish ‘nerves’.
fine-ˈladyism n. now rare the state or condition of being a fine lady; the manners or behaviour characteristic of fine ladies; (also) an instance or manifestation of this.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > affectation of refinement
airs and graces1697
fine-ladyism1799
gentility1821
shabby-gentility1829
gentishness1847
genteelism1849
silver-spoonism1859
posh1915
refainment1933
1799 Monthly Rev. 28 App. 503 The progress which she had made in fine-ladyism.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. v. 128 ‘One sort of fine-ladyism is as good as another,’ said Felix.
1963 ELH 30 74 The female members of the three groups arrange themselves into similar oppositions..but all interested chiefly in their own vanity and fine-ladyism.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > affecting refinement
young-ladyfied1616
genteel1631
genteea1680
fal-lal1747
shabby-genteel1754
fine-ladylike1755
fine-ladyish1777
ladyish1830
silver-fork1831
haw-haw1841
lardy-dardy1861
la-di-dac1883
refained1925
1755 B. Victor Widow of Wood 26 But yet (Fine-ladylike) she still complained.
1784 R. Bage Barham Downs II. 40 Assuming a certain degree of fine-lady-like effrontery.
1832 J. P. Collier Diary 15 May in Old Man's Diary (1871) 79 I was charmed with her natural manners, and ladylike (not fine-ladylike) simplicity.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [noun] > member of > female > condition of
fine-ladyship1828
Sloaneness1975
1828 New Monthly Mag. 22 219 Sophy was slightly inclined to affectation and fine-ladyship.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair lxiv. 588 She reassumed her fine-ladyship, and tried to look and feel as if she was in May Fair once more.
1915 H. C. Bailey Highwayman ix. 91 Her waist made no pretence of fine-ladyship.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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