ˈyoung ˈlady
1. A lady who is young; a young woman, usually unmarried, or a girl, orig. one of superior social position; formerly often used to connote the artificiality, primness, sentimentality, etc., attributed to young ladies.
‘This expression is now avoided in polite use, except among some old-fashioned speakers and jocularly. Various particular applications formerly existed; thus, from the 17th to the early 19th cent. a young woman or a girl waited upon by a maid-servant was called {oqq}her young lady{cqq}; until late in the 19th cent. girls at boarding schools were spoken of and addressed as young ladies. At the present day, the term is freq. applied, with the intention of avoiding the supposed derogatory implication of young woman, to female shop assistants or clerks of good appearance and manners.’ N.E.D.
For the vocative use, see young a. 1 b.
| ? 1402 Quixley Ball. 160 in Yorksh. Archæol. Jrnl. (1908) XX. 44 The yhonge lady then praysed of beautee. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 291, I rede þat þer was an olde knythe and weddud a ȝung ladi. 1669 Cokaine Choice Poems 35 Ask but a Chamber-maid..what her young Lady Doth. 1749 Smollett Gil Blas iv. vii. (1816) 128 It is a long time since I left her, and went to serve a young lady of fashion. a 1800 The Governess in Miss Yonge Storehouse of Stories (1870) 188 Two young ladies, Lady Caroline and Lady Fanny Delun... Lady Caroline was fourteen years of age,..Lady Fanny, who was one year younger than her sister, was rather little of her age. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. Ellen, A life, and freedom, and buoyancy, quite unusual in that artificial personage, a young lady. 1837 Eliza Farrar Yng. Lady's Friend i. 1 When they cease to attend school, and begin their career as young ladies. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xvi, The premises of Westgate House Establishment for Young Ladies. Ibid. xl, ‘Good morning, my dear,’ said the principal, addressing the young lady at the bar. 1842 Motley Corr. (1889) I. iv. 95, I have been young lady enough to keep a journal. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxiii, ‘Fetch him home’, said Miss Ripper with authority, ‘and say that my young lady's here.’ 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. xii, ‘A young lady, did you say, Collins?’ ‘Yes, my Lady.’ ‘Then you were very wrong, Collins. You meant to say a young person.’ ‘Yes, my Lady—a young person, like a lady.’ 1856 Amy Carlton 42 Miss Colman..pronounced the oracular words, ‘Your lessons, young ladies, immediately’. 1886 [see young a. 1 b]. 1920 Oxford Times 24 Dec. 1/2 Young Lady Wanted, with good experience, as Book-keeper. |
| attrib. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 43 Amongst young⁓lady-correspondents especially, it is a sort of petty treason, to send blank paper to a friend. 1857 Chamb. Jrnl. 2 May 274/2 My young-lady friends, of from seventeen upwards. 1865 Le Fanu Guy Dev. iii. I. 42 Beatrix was in a young⁓lady reverie. |
2. A female sweetheart; a fiancée.
vulgar.
| 1896 G. B. Shaw You Never Can Tell iv, My wife was like your young lady: she was of a commanding..disposition. |
Hence (chiefly
nonce-wds.)
young-ˈladydom, young ladies collectively;
young-ˈladyfied (
-faɪd)
a., having acquired, or having, the style of a young lady;
young-ˈladyhood, the condition or status of a young lady; also
concr. young ladies collectively;
young-ˈladyish,
young-ˈladylike adjs., resembling or characteristic of a young lady;
young-ˈladyism, the style, or a phrase, characteristic of young ladies;
young-ˈladyship, the personality of a young lady.
| 1866 Sat. Rev. 14 Apr. 439 The virtuous young man..monopolized the sympathies of *young-ladydom. 1882 Pall Mall Gaz. 31 Oct. 4/2 A general air of ‘young-ladydom’ prevails, each second name in the catalogue is a Lily or a Jessie or a Letitia. |
| 1863 M. E. Braddon Aurora Floyd vi, No stiff, embroidered, *young-ladyfied garment. |
| 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe iv, They had not arrived at perceiving that they were on the equal terms of *youngladyhood. 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne xxxi, No bevy of Greshamsbury young ladies had fairly represented the Greshamsbury young-ladyhood if Mary Thorne was not there. |
| 1860 Sat. Rev. 7 Jan. 12/1 It is not to be wondered at..that there should be something eminently *young ladyish in the clergyman's way of doing parochial business. |
| 1884 Howells Silas Lapham i. iv, The Colonel, in fond enjoyment of their *young ladyishness. |
| 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe x, I am not fallen so low as the essence of *young-ladyism. |
| 1832 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 12, I am sorry to say that I have a very *young-lady-like partiality to writing to those that I love. 1852 Miss Mulock Agatha's Husb. iv, To judge whether, young-lady-like, she had told his secret to all her female friends. |
| 1871 *Young-ladyship [see grown-up-dom]. 1891 Barrie Little Min. iv, ‘Hae you ever looked on a lord?’ ‘No.’ ‘Or on an auld lord's young leddyship? I have.’ |