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Les Misérables vocabulary
789 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.
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duenna
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synonyms: dueña ???
► definition
Definition:1. The chief lady in waiting on the queen of Spain.2. An elderly lady holding a station between a governess and companion, and appointed to have charge over the younger ladies in a Spanish or a Portuguese family.3. Any old woman who is employed to guard a younger one; a governess.Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
painting: by Murillo, A Girl and her Duenna, 1670
► uses
Uses:
"It was impossible to talk with the girl, for Ambroisine watched her like a duenna! But I saw that my aspect did not displease her; she blushed, and lowered her eyes. Her head is worthy of Titian's brush. Ah! I am mad over her! [...]"
Charles Paul de Kock. The Bath Keepers, volume 1 (1904)
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For the age of a duenna is less reassuring to a jealous lover than the age of the woman’s face whom he loves.
Marcel Proust. In Search of Lost Time [volume 5]
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she was the awesome duenna of my darling
Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita
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"Son of a bitch," said the duenna, all aglow with anger, "whether I'm old or not, it's with God I have to reckon, not with you, you garlic-stuffed scoundrel!" and she said it so loud, that the duchess heard it, and turning round and seeing the duenna in such a state of excitement, and her eyes flaming so, asked whom she was wrangling with.
Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote
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