duchessdom
nounEtymology From duchess + -dom.
1
The condition or title of a duchess.
- She had a certain grandeur about her cap, and a majestical set about the skirt of her dress, and a rigour in the lines of her mouth, which indicated a habit of command, and a confidence in her own dignity, which might be supposed to be the very clearest attribute of duchessdom.1860, Anthony Trollope, “Two Witnesses”, in Castle Richmond. A Novel. (Collection of British Authors; Tauchnitz Edition; volume 520), volume I, Leipzig: [Christian] Bernhard Tauchnitz, page 308:
- “No, no; purchase a dukedom.” “I don’t want a dukedom; I want a duchessdom.” “That’s all right. Buy the title, give it to the cook, and let her marry some spectre of her own rank; she can give him the title; and there you are!”1894, John Kendrick Bangs, “The Spectre Cook of Bangletop”, in The Water Ghost and Others, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 98:
1 more example
- Believe me, if Nan had liked duchessdom, none of this would be taking place.1993, Marion Mainwaring, The Buccaneers, Viking, →ISBN, page 402:
2
A region ruled by a duchess.
- The buskers gathered expectantly at their table, and presently the two came in, he who had thought a kingdom well lost for love, and she who had gained a duchessdom by it.1945, Douglas Reed, The Next Horizon: or, Yeomans’ Progress, London: Jonathan Cape, […], chapter 23, page 209:
- Astride his trusty equine colleague, he went from kingdom to queendom and from dukedom to duchessdom, asking for names and phone numbers.1998, Marina Yaguello, Trevor Harris, “The Miser and the Prodigal Son: Lexical meaning”, in Language Through the Looking Glass: Exploring Language and Linguistics, Oxford University Press, adaptation from of Alice au pays du langage: [Pour comprendre la linguistique] by Marina Yaguello, →ISBN, page 147:
1 more example
- The children spent more time in their imaginary “kingdoms, empires, domains, dukedoms, and marquisdoms … and—oh yes! Duchessdoms,” and talked for hours about what to name their castles and realms.2017, Karin Roffman, “Blue Mountain (1936–1940)”, in The Songs We Know Best: John Ashbery’s Early Life, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 38: