lady: [OE] Originally, the term lady denoted a ‘kneader of bread’. It comes from Old English hloefdige, a compound formed from hl?f ‘bread’ (ancestor of modern English loaf) and an element *dig- ‘knead’ (related to English dough). It is a measure of the symbolic (and actual) importance of bread in medieval households that (like lord, also a derivative of loaf) lady came, as a provider of bread, to be applied to someone in a position of authority within a house. => dairy, dough, loaf, lord
lady (n.)
c. 1200, lafdi, lavede, from Old English hl?fdige "mistress of a household, wife of a lord," literally "one who kneads bread," from hlaf "bread" (see loaf) + -dige "maid," related to d?ge "maker of dough" (see dey (n.1); also compare lord (n.)). The medial -f- disappeared 14c. Not found outside English except where borrowed from it.
Sense of "woman of superior position in society" is c. 1200; "woman whose manners and sensibilities befit her for high rank in society" is from 1861 (ladylike in this sense is from 1580s, and ladily from c. 1400). Meaning "woman as an object of chivalrous love" is from early 14c. Used commonly as an address to any woman since 1890s. Applied in Old English to the Holy Virgin, hence many extended usages in plant names, place names, etc., from genitive singular hl?fdigan, which in Middle English merged with the nominative, so that lady- often represents (Our) Lady's, as in ladybug. Ladies' man first recorded 1784. Lady of pleasure recorded from 1640s.
雙語例句
1. Listen here, young lady. Don't you call me that!
你給我聽著，小姐。別那樣叫我！
來自柯林斯例句
2. In the past he dallied with actresses and lady novelists.
他過去曾與許多女演員和女小說家調(diào)情。
來自柯林斯例句
3. He bundled the old lady into her hallway and brutally attacked her.
他將老婦人推到她家走廊上，并對她一頓暴打。
來自柯林斯例句
4. America'sFirst Lady stood on the sweeping staircase of the White House.
美國第一夫人站在白宮的弧形樓梯上。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The old lady cackled, pleased to have produced so dramatic a reaction.