ladykin
English
editEtymology
editNoun
editladykin (plural ladykins)
- A little lady.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir; / My old bones ache [...]
Usage notes
edit- Applied during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, in the abbreviated form Lakin, to the Virgin Mary. The diminutive does not refer to size, but is equivalent to "dear".
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “ladykin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Translations
editlittle lady
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