Madonna1
/məˈdɒnə
/noun (the Madonna)
1The Virgin Mary.
1.1 (madonna) A picture, statue, or medallion of the Madonna.This week whilst at his daily travail Charles discovered one of his frypans has been miraculously scorched with a ghostly image of the madonna....
- He gave the madonna to Nathella, a riflery simulator to Clancy, pressed flowers to Fiona, and an abstract pattern to Aed.
- During the 1940s came a series of small maquettes of madonna and child, followed by family groups.
1.2 (madonna) An idealized virtuous and beautiful woman: he describes Evelyn as a madonna...
- Art and literature are as, if not more, responsible in this respect as law in creating models that reproduce stereotypes of women as madonnas or whores or, in fairy tale terms, wicked witches and sleeping beauties.
- Their colloquy is presided over by the ‘woman in the sun’ of the Book of Revelation; but in Pisanello's lighthearted interpretation she is, however solar, an elegant mouse of a woman; a childlike madonna cheek-to-cheek with her infant.
- One would fight to the death for the lady liege, the madonna, and be happy with a talismanic scarf, a kind glance.
Origin
Late 16th century (as a respectful form of address to an Italian woman): Italian, from ma (old form of mia 'my') + donna 'lady' (from Latin domina).
Madonna2
/məˈdɒnə/ (B.1958), American pop singer and actress; born Madonna Louise Ciccone. Albums such as Like a Virgin (1984) and her image as a sex symbol brought her international stardom in the mid 1980s.