Lady

Lady

The word lady is a polite term for a woman, specifically the female equivalent to, or spouse of, a lord or gentleman, and in many contexts a term for any adult woman. Once relating specifically to women of high social class or status, over the last 300 years it has spread to embrace all adult women, though in some contexts may still be used to evoke a concept of "ladylike" standards of behaviour.

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Famous quotes containing the word lady:

    Quoth she, “I have loved thee, Little Musgrave,
    Full long and many a day;”
    “So have I loved you, faire lady,
    Yet never a word durst I say.”

    “I have a bower at Bucklesfordbery,
    Full daintyly it is deight;
    If thou wilt wend thither, thou Little Musgrave,
    Thou’s lig in mine armes all night.”
    —Unknown. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (l. 17–24)

    Nobody should trust their virtue with necessity, the force of which is never known till it is felt, and it is therefore one of the first duties to avoid the temptation of it.
    Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)

    The Lady has always moved to the next town
    and you stumble on after Her.
    Robert Creeley (b. 1926)