Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Duchess |
DuchessNoun1. The wife of a duke or a woman holding ducal title in her own right. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "duchess" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1374. (references) |
Etymology: Duchess \Duch"ess\, noun. [French expression duchesse, from duc duke.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Duchess The wife or widow of a duke; but an old woman is often jocosely termed an old duchess or a regular old duchess. The longevity of the peers and peeresses is certainly very striking. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Mining | Slate size of 24 in by 12 in (61.0 cm by 30.5 cm). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Master | Empress, queen, sultana, czarina, princess, infanta, duchess, margravine; czarevna, czarita; maharani, rani, rectrix. |
Nobility | Princess, begum, duchess, marchioness; countess; lady, dame; memsahib; Do$a, maharani, rani. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Duchess |
| English words defined with "duchess": assuming, assumptive ♦ duchy, dukedom ♦ grand duchy ♦ Ladyship ♦ marchioness, marquise ♦ presumptuous. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "duchess": Annabel, Atossa ♦ Bathsheba ♦ Callipolis ♦ Gueux ♦ Lothair ♦ Negroni ♦ Rope-dancers, Rose Sunday ♦ saint, Sancho Panza ♦ White Widow. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "duchess": Archduchess. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | My mother is a duchess who talks only of revolution. (Hussard sur le toit, Le; writing credit: Jean-Claude Carrière; Nina Companéez) When the Doge did his duty and the Duke didn't, that's when the Duchess did the dirt to the Duke with the Doge. (The Court Jester; writing credit: Melvin Frank; Norman Panama) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Duchess of Malfi (1972) Dick and the Duchess (1957) Duchess of Idaho (1950) The Improper Duchess (1936) Duchess! Oh (1936) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | [Hospital train kitchen on the Grand Duchess Elizabeth]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | [A ward car on the hospital train Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Harbin]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | The Duchess of Queensberry and Soubise. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Queen Victoria of Spain (right), with the Marquisse de Carisbrooks, Infanta Don Alfonso, and the Duchess of Victoria on the Puerta de Hierro golf course, Madrid, Spain. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | S.S. La Grand Duchess [sic]. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Duchess of Bedford. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | New York. Millbrook, Duchess Co. Home of Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Duchess de Talleyrand, "Lyndhurst," residence in Irvington, New York. Cottage, river facade. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Sweely, Shipman & Co. present The Duchess of Devonshire by Mrs. Chas. A. Doremus. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The little duchess the musical comedy success. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Royalty; royal; king; queen; princess; prince; duchess; duke; trumpet; majestic; majesty. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Horace Walpole | It was said of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, that she never puts dots over her I s, to save ink. |
Lewis Carroll | ''If everybody minded their own business,'' the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, ''the world would go round a deal faster than it does.'' |
Samuel Johnson | Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Give me my shepherdess, and have her a duchess if possible. |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | Exit DUCHESS. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Luxembourg | The present sovereign, Grand Duke Jean, succeeded his mother, Grand Duchess Charlotte, on November 12, 1964. Grand Duke Jean's eldest son, Prince Henri, was appointed "Lieutenant Représentant" (Hereditary Grand Duke) on March 4, 1998. On December 24, 1999, Prime Minister Juncker announced Grand Duke Jean's decision to abdicate the throne in September 2000, in favor of Prince Henri who assumed the title and constitutional duties of Grand Duke. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SAINT, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. The Duchess of Orleans relates that the irreverent old calumniator, Marshal Villeroi, who in his youth had known St. Francis de Sales, said, on hearing him called saint: "I am delighted to hear that Monsieur de Sales is a saint. He was fond of saying indelicate things, and used to cheat at cards. In other respects he was a perfect gentleman, though a fool." |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Duchess" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 64.38% of the time. "Duchess" is used about 802 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 64.38% | 516 | 11,767 |
| Noun (proper) | 35.62% | 286 | 17,222 |
| Total | 100.00% | 802 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "duchess": dowager duchess ♦ duchess of Ferrara ♦ duchess of Windsor ♦ grand duchess. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "duchess": Duchess-countess. | |
Ending with "duchess": dowager-duchess. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "duchess"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | dukeshë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | نبيلة, زوجة الدوق, دوقة. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | херцогиня, дукеса. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 公爵夫人 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | vévodkynì. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | duchesse-knipling (duchess lace, duchesse lace). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | hertogin. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | dukino. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | دوشس , بانوی دوک . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | herttuatar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | duchesse (duke). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | hartoginne. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | herzogin. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | δούκισσα. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | "וכסית. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | hercegné (princess, rani), hercegnő (princess). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | istri duke, istri bangsawan. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | duchessa (duke). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 公爵夫人 (princess). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | "うしゃくふじ" (marchioness, princess). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 공작 부인. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | yn chenn-caillin, bendiuic, ben ooasle (gentlewoman, lady, madam). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | hertuginne. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | uchessday duquesa. (various references) ducesã. (various references) княгиня, герцогиня. (various references) ban-diùc. (various references) vojvotkinja. (various references) duquesa. (various references) hertiginna (duchness). (various references) รรยาของท่าน"ยุค. (various references) düxes, düşes. (various references) vợ công tước. (various references) duges. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "duchess": duchesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "duchess": archduchess. (additional references) | |
Words containing "duchess": archduchesses. (additional references) | |
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"Duchess" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dehesas, diches, Duchac, duche, duches, duch-ess, durchaus, dushes, dutches, dutchess, Dutchness. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "duchess" (pronounced du"khus) |
| 3 | -kh u s | fichus, licentious, purchase, repurchase, righteous. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-d-e-h-s-s-u" | |
-1 letter: cussed. | |
-2 letters: chess, duces, scuds, sheds. | |
-3 letters: cess, cuds, cued, cues, cuss, duce, dues, ecus, edhs, hued, hues, scud, secs, shed, shes, such, suds, sued, sues, used, uses. | |
-4 letters: cud, cue, due, duh, ecu, edh, eds, ess, hes, hue, sec, she, sue, use. | |
-5 letters: de, ed, eh, es, he, sh, uh, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-d-e-h-s-s-u" | |
+1 letter: hocussed, schussed. | |
+2 letters: chorussed, duchesses, schedules, shelducks. | |
+3 letters: deckhouses, schedulers. | |
+4 letters: archduchess, reschedules. | |
+5 letters: discotheques, preschedules, swashbuckled. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Sounds 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
