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.

Famous quotes containing the word lady:

“To think, that only yesterday we were pulling her hair and buttoning her pinafore. And now she’s a grown-up married lady with a bustle.”
—Victor Heerman (1893–1977)

“I askèd a thief to steal me a peach
He turned up his eyes
I ask’d a lithe lady to lie her down
Holy & meek she cries—

As soon as I went
An angel came.
He wink’d at the thief
And smild at the dame—

And without one word said
Had a peach from the tree
And still as a maid
Enjoy’d the lady.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)

““No, not another song,” said he,
“Because my lady came
A year ago for the first time
At midnight to my room,
And I must lie between the sheets
When the clock begins to chime.””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)