daughter
(ˈdɔːtə(r))
Forms: α. 1 dohtor, -ur, 1–3 dohter, 3–4 douȝter, -ir, 3–5 doȝter, -ir, -ur, 3–6 (9 dial.) dowter, 4 dohuter, -ir, -yr, dowȝghtur, douther, 4–5 doghtir, -ur, douter, 4–5 (8 Sc.) doghter, 4–6 doughter (dowghter, 5 doughtur, dughter, dowtir, -yr, þowȝtur, thowghter, 5–6 Sc. dochtir, 5–9 Sc. dochter, 6 doughtour, Sc. douchter). β. (6 dial. dahtorr, doffter, 6–7 dafter), 6– daughter (riming with after in Pilgr. Prog., etc.). Plural: see below.
[A Com. Teutonic and Common Aryan word of relationship, OE. dohtor (-ur, -er) = OFris. dochter, OS. dohtar (MDu., Du., LG. dochter), OHG. tohter (MHG. tohter, Ger. tochter), ON. dótter (:—dohter), (Sw., Norw. dotter, Da. datter), Goth. dauhtar:—OTeut. *dohtēr; corresp. to pre-Germanic *dhukˈtēr from original *dhughəˈtēr, whence Skr. duhitar-, Zend duγðar, Armen. duštr, OSlav. dŭštī, Lith. duktē: cf. also Gr. θυγάτηρ. Generally referred to the verbal root *dhugh-, Skr. duh- to milk.
The normal modern repr. of OE. dohtor, ME. doȝter, is doughter still used in 16th c., and now represented by Sc. dochter, dowchter, north. Eng. dowter. The form daughter appeared in the 16th c. (substituted in Cranmer's ed. of the Bible for Tindale's and Coverdale's doughter, whence in all later versions, and always in Shakespeare and later writers). It appears to be of southern origin, and analogous to the southern phonetic development of bought, sought, thought: a Wells will of 1531 has dahtorrs: cf. the mod. Somerset and Devon (ˈdɑːtə(r)).
In OE. the dative sing. was dehter; genitive dohtor (sometimes dehter); the uninflected genitive continued in use to the 16th c. The plural shows a variety of forms, viz. OE. dohtor, -ur, -er (like the sing.), dohtru, dohtra, North-umb. dohter, dohtero; the first of these app. did not survive the OE. stage; the form in -u, -a, is represented in early ME. by Layamon's dohtere, dohtre; but Layamon has also dohtren, which survived in S.W. dialect to 1500. Ormin has dohhtress, and the later text of Layamon dohtres, which is always found in northern ME., and became the standard form. An umlaut plural deȝter appears n the West Midland Alliterative Poems of 14th c. and the Troy-book of c 1400; it occurs elsewhere with inflexional endings, dehtren, deȝteres: cf. brether, brethren. The unfixedness of the form is seen in this, that the earlier text of Layamon has both dohtere and dohtren, the later both dohtren and dohtres; the MSS. of Chaucer also show both doughtres and doughtren, Hali Meidenhad has dohtren and dehtren, the Alliterative Poems deȝter and deȝteres.
With the OE. plural forms, cf. OFris. dohtera and dohteren, OHG. tohter, tohterâ, tohterûn, MHG., with umlaut, töhter, Ger. töchter, LG. dechter. The original Teutonic nom. pl. was *dohtriz, in early Norse runes dohtrir, whence regularly Norse dœ́tr, dœ́ttr; a corresponding OE. *dœhter, *dehter is not found, but the ME. West Midland deȝter may be its descendant. The other forms in the various languages are later, and analogical. For OE. dohtor, dohtru, -ra, see the similar forms under brother: it is possible that those in -ru, -ra, northern -ero, are assimilated to -os, -or stems like lombru, -ra, -ero. ME. doȝtren, deȝtren exemplify the usual passage of vowel plurals in early southern ME. into the -en type, and Ormin's dohtress the early ascendancy of -es plurals in the north and midlands.]
A. Illustration of the plural forms. † (α) OE. dohtor, -ur, -er; dohtra, -ru, -ero; ME. 2–3 dohtere, -tre.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. xliv. 10 Cynincga dohtor [filiæ regum]. Ibid. cxliii. 15 Heora dohtru [filiæ eorum]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xxiii. 28 Eala dohtra hierusalem [c 950 Lindisf. dohtero, c 975 Rushw. dohter, c 1160 Hatton dohter]. c 1205 Lay. 24509 Comen..þere hehere monnen dohtere. |
† (
β) 4
deȝter, 4–5
deghter.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 939 Loth & his lef, hys luflyche deȝter. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1474 Sonnes..ffyue..and þre deghter. Ibid. 1489 Of his Deghter by dene..One Creusa was cald. |
† (
γ) 2
dochtren, 3
dohteren,
-tren,
doȝtren, 4
douh-,
douȝ-,
doghtren, 4–5
doughtren.
| a 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Ȝedéir sunen and dochtren. c 1205 Lay. 2924 Þe king hefde þreo dohtren [c 1275 dohtres]. c 1230 Hali Meid. 41 Þu schalt..teamen dohtren & sunen. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 509 Hor wiues & hor doȝtren. c 1320 Cast. Love 289 Foure douhtren hedde þe kyng. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. Prol. 22 Oye herynes nyghttes doughtren thre. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. xiii. 15 Tho ii eldest doughtren wolde not abide till Leyr hir fadre was deede. |
† (
δ)
deghtren; 3–5
dehtren, 5
deytron.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 19 Alle hise sunnen and alle hise dehtren. 14.. Chron. Eng. 543–5 in Ritson Anc. Metr. Rom. (1802) II. (Mätz.), Edward hade..Nine dehtren ant five sones. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 367 Þe Bysshop..sayde deytron ycham fulle hevy. |
(
ε)
† dohtres,
† doughters, etc.;
daughters.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 19 To sunes and to dohtres. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1092 Loth and his doȝtres two. c 1300 Havelok 717 Hauelok..And hise two doutres. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 814 His two dere doȝterez. c 1340 Cursor M. 18983 (Fairf.) Ȝoure sones and ȝoure douȝtris. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 555 Eek hir doghtres two [v. rr. doughtres, douȝters, dowhters, doughteryn]. c 1450 Merlin 3 He had thre doughters and a sone. 1535 Coverdale Acts ii. 17 Youre sonnes and youre doughters. 1539 Cranmer ibid., Youre sonnes and youre daughters. |
† (
ζ) 4
deghteres,
-tres,
deȝteres,
deȝtters.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9623 Sir, o þi deghteres am I an. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 899 Þy wyf & þy wyȝez & þy wlonc deȝtters. Ibid. B. 933 His wyf & his wlonk deȝteres. |
B. Signification.
1. prop. The word expressing the relation of a female to her parents; female child or offspring. The feminine term corresponding to
son.
αForm
doughter.
Obs. exc. dial.| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 37 Se ðe lufað sunu oððe dohtor [v.r. dohtur] swyþur þonne me. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., Se þe lufeð sune oððe dohter. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 197 His seuen sunes and þrie dochtres. c 1340 Cursor M. 155 (Trin.) Mary also hir douȝter mylde [v.r. doghter, douther]. 14.. Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 691/17 Hic gener, a dowghter husband. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. iii. 500 Marie..bare sones and douȝtris after that sche..bare Crist. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xvi. 44 Soch a mother, soch a doughter. |
| Sc. and dial. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 33 Gif there be moe dochters nor ane, the here age sall be divided amonst them. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 8 I'm come your doghter's love to win. 1793 Burns Let. to Cunningham 3 Mar., Do you know the..old Highland air called ‘The Sutor's Dochter’? 1863 Tyneside Songs 24 For he a dowter had. |
βForm
daughter.
| 1531 W. Babe in Wells Wills (1890) 114 To my to dahtorrs a kow. 1532 T. Budd ibid. (1890) 183 To their eldest dafters. 1539 Cranmer Matt. ix. 18 My daughter is even now diseased. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. i. 245 So could I 'faith boy, to haue the next wish after, That Lucentio indeede had Baptistas yongest daughter. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. (Hanserd Knollys ed.) 339 Dispondencie, good-man, is coming after, And so also is Much-afraid, his Daughter. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. vii, The misery of all fathers who are so unfortunate as to have daughters. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 319 ‘Boys!’ shriek'd the old king, but vainlier than a hen To her false daughters in the pool. |
| dial. 1864 E. Capern Devon Provinc., Darter, daughter. 1837 Dickens Pickw. viii, ‘My da'ater.’] |
2. transf. a. A female descendant; a female member of a family, race, etc.; a woman in relation to her native country or place. (
Cf. child 9.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xii. 15 Ne ondræd þu Siones dohtor. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., Ne on-dræd þu þe Syones dohter. 1382 Wyclif Judg. xiv. 1 A womman of the douȝtris of Philistien. 1382 ― Luke xiii. 16 This douȝtre of Abraham. Ibid. xxiii. 28 Douȝtris of Jerusalem. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 453 The Love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heat. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxxi, Danced on the shore the daughters of the land. 1833 Tennyson Lady Clara Vere de Vere i, The daughter of a hundred Earls. 1850 ― In Mem. Concl. ii, A daughter of our house. 1855 ― Brook 69 A daughter of our meadows. |
b. Used in
pl. in the names of various women's societies, as
Daughters of Liberty (Boston, 1769–70),
Daughters of the American Revolution (1890),
Daughters of the Confederacy (1894), etc. Also
sing., a member of one or other of these societies.
U.S.| 1769 Boston Gaz. 16 Oct. 1/3 And as true Daughters of Liberty, they made their Breakfast upon Rye Coffee. 1890 (title) Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution and By-Laws. 1894 Confederate Veteran II. 180/1 Daughters of the Confederacy are also organized. 1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter i. 4 Working the Daughters of the Confederacy as a political proposition. Ibid. 7 Mrs. Todhunter, an ardent Daughter had gone early in the day. 1940 E. Fergusson Our Southwest 54 All our national and sectional Daughters are there and active, and even more patriotic Daughters of Texas' founders, fighters, signers, or early arrivals. 1962 Listener 18 Jan. 125/1 You are fed some dull crap by a sweet bunch of uptown Daughters of the American Revolution. |
3. Used as a term of affectionate address to a woman or girl by an older person or one in a superior relation.
Obs. or
arch.| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 22 Gelyf dohtor, þin ᵹeleafa þe ᵹehælde. c 1230 Hali Meid. 3 Jher me dohter he seið. 1382 Wyclif Matt. ix. 22 And Jhesus..saide, Douȝter, haue thou trust; thi faith hath made thee saaf. 1534 Tindale ibid., Doughter, be of good confort. [So 1535 Coverdale, 1539 Cranmer, 1557 Geneva, 1582 Rheims; 1611, daughter.] 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. i. 39 Are you at leisure, Holy Father, now?.. Fri. My leisure serues me, pensiue daughter, now. 1790 Cowper Odyssey xxiii. 79 To whom thus Euryclea, nurse belov'd, What word, my daughter, hath escaped thy lips? |
4. A girl, maiden, young woman (with no express reference to relationship).
Obs. or
arch.| 1382 Wyclif Song Sol. ii. 2 As a lilie among thornes, so my leef among doȝtres. 1483 Caxton Cato E viij b, If a doughter drynke of the water..yf she be a mayde she shal crye. 1611 Bible Prov. xxxi. 29 Many daughters haue done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 1818 Shelley Revolt of Islam viii. ii. 9 She is some bride, Or daughter of high birth. |
5. fig. A woman viewed in relation to some one whose spirit she inherits, or to some characteristic, quality, pursuit, or other circumstance. (A Hebraism of Scripture.) (
Cf. child 12, 13.)
| 1382 Wyclif Eccl. xii. 4 And alle the doȝtris of the song shul become doumb. ― 1 Pet. iii. 6 As Sare obeschide to Abraham..of whom ȝe ben douȝtres wel doynge. 1738 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 158 A daughter of affliction came to see me. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 259 Eight daughters of the plough, stronger than men. 1859 in Allibone Dict. Eng. Lit. I. 266 We..claim her [Mrs. Browning] as Shakspere's daughter! |
6. fig. a. Anything (personified as female) considered in relation to its origin or source.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 15 Vre wit is godes dohter. 1340 Ayenb. 26 Fole ssame..is..doȝter of prede. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 653 God..left that Command Sole Daughter of his voice. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 12 Dulness..Daughter of Chaos and eternal Night. 1805 Wordsw. Ode to Duty 1 Stern Daughter of the Voice of God! O Duty! 1820 Shelley The Cloud vi, I am the daughter of earth and water. Mod. Italian, the eldest daughter of ancient Latin. |
b. Applied to the relation of cities to their metropolis or mother-city; in Scripture to the smaller towns dependent on a chief city.
| 1535 Coverdale Josh. xv. 47 Asdod with the doughters [1611 towns] and vyllages therof. Mod. Carthage the famous daughter of Tyre. |
c. Duke of Exeter's daughter,
Scavenger's daughter [corruption of
Skevington's daughter] names given to instruments of torture of which the invention is attributed to the Duke of Exeter and Sir W. Skevington, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, respectively. So
gunner's daughter, the gun to which seamen were lashed to be flogged. See
gunner,
scavenger.
| [1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xiii. 301 A daughter of the Duke of Exeter invented a brake or cruel rack.] a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Duke of Exeter's Daughter, a Rack in the Tower of London, to torture and force Confession; supposed to be introduced by him. 1720 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) I. i. xiv. 66/2 The Brake or rack, commonly called the Duke of Exeter's daughter because he was the deviser of that torture. 1878 J. Gairdner Rich. III, iv. 125 Being..a prisoner in the Tower, in the severe embrace of ‘the Duke of Exeter's daughter’. |
d. Nuclear Sci. A nuclide formed by the nuclear disintegration (either spontaneous or induced) of another nuclide.
Orig. short for
daughter atom,
element.
| 1926 [see 7 c]. 1933 O. H. Blackwood et al. Outl. Atomic Physics xii. 222 At present we cannot tell whether the daughter of radium C{pp} is identical in all its properties with radium D. 1950 Glasstone Sourcebk. Atomic Energy v. 119/2 Since the daughter element also disintegrates, it is itself the parent of a daughter. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 89 The average number of ‘daughters’ that each neutron generates. 1970 Nature 25 July 362/2 The decay product of natural uranium, thorium and their daughters. |
7. a. attrib. and
Comb. (usually
fig.), as
daughter-branch,
daughter-bud,
daughter-city,
daughter-colony,
daughter-house,
daughter-island,
daughter-land,
daughter-language,
daughter-nation,
daughter-state;
daughter-like adj.| 1586 T. B. La Primaud Fr. Acad. 510 The rare example of daughter-like pietie. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. ix. §1 (R.) A fruitful vine planted by the well side, and spread her daughter-branches along the wall. 1641 Milton Reform. Wks. (1847) 21 This Britannic empire..with all her daughter-islands about her. a 1721 Prior Celia to Damon 104 And when the parent rose decays and dies..the daughter-buds arise. 1871 Marcus Dods tr. St. Aug. City of God. I. 107 How, then, could that be a glorious war which a daughter-state waged against its mother? 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 5 The Phoenicians alike of the parent country and daughter cities. 1886 Abp. Benson Prayer at opening Col. & Ind. Exhib. May 4, That all the daughter-lands of her Realms and Empire may be knit together in perfect unity. 1901 National Rev. Nov. 347 The conduct of these daughter nations during our South African struggle. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 9/3 Everyone was too busy talking about their grand Imperial theories, and the duties of the mother-country, to bother about the dull little domestic facts that are worrying the daughter-land. 1905 Spectator 11 Feb. 205/1 The great self-governing daughter-nations. 1937 Discovery Aug. 229/2 The silver didrachm..of the Greek city states was introduced into the daughter-colonies and became the chief coin of Italy for nearly 400 years. |
b. Biol., etc. Applied to things having the relation of offspring of the first generation, or resulting from a primary division or segmentation;
daughter-cell (
Biol.), one of two or more cells produced by the fission of an original or mother-cell.
| 1876 Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 137, I cut down upon the tumour so as freely to expose it, and then punctured it, when a quantity of clear water escaped, and with it two or three small daughter cysts. 1876 Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 92 The daughter-cells separate after complete division. 1882 Vines Sach's Bot. 139 One of the two daughter-cells (the Apical Cell) remains..similar to the mother-cell. 1900 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms 71/2 Daughter chromosome, a secondary chromosome, derived from division of the original. 1900 Dorland Med. Dict. 188/1 Daughter-cyst, a small cyst developed from the wall of a larger one. 1924 J. A. Thomson Science Old & New xliv. 257 A non-cellular organism multiplies by division, budding and spore-forming, and its daughter-units separate off. 1937 Nature CXL. 759 On this process [sc. crossing-over]..the later reduction in number and segregation to opposite daughter-cells equally depend. 1964 M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 8) xxix. 453 Daughter-cysts may be endogenous, i.e., developed within the primary cyst, or exogenous, i.e., buds penetrate the cyst wall and develop externally. |
c. (sense 6 d)
daughter atom,
daughter element,
daughter product.
| 1933 O. H. Blackwood et al. Outl. Atomic Physics xii. 219 The atomic weight of radium is 226, and the daughter atom should be four units lighter because of the loss of an alpha particle. 1955 Gloss. Terms Radiology (B.S.I.) 6 The atom containing the original nucleus is sometimes called the parent atom and the resulting atom the decay product or daughter atom. |
| 1926 R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity viii. 87 A radio-element is in a state of radioactive equilibrium with its disintegration product, when the same number of atoms of the daughter element disintegrate as are formed in the unit of time. 1962 Newnes Conc. Encycl. Nuclear Energy 176/2 The decay products of a radioactive element are often referred to as its daughter products. |
Hence
ˈdaughterful a. (
nonce-wd.), full of daughters.
ˈdaughterhood, (
a) the condition of being a daughter; (
b) daughters collectively (
cf. sisterhood).
ˈdaughterkin (
nonce-wd. after
Ger. töchterchen), little daughter.
ˈdaughterless a., without a daughter.
ˈdaughterling (
nonce-wd.), little daughter.
ˈdaughtership (
nonce-wd.), the condition or relation of a daughter.
| 1830 Carlyle in For. Rev. & Cont. Misc. V. 45 In a daughter-full house. 1835 Tait's Mag. II. 101 The motherhood of Great Britain..and the unportioned daughterhood. 1890 J. Pulsford Loyalty to Christ I. 250 Daughter, thou hast lost thy divine daughterhood. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. x. i. 571 His poor little Daughter-kin. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 305 Ye shull for me be doughterles. 1887 Cornhill Mag. Oct. 434 Wifeless and daughterless. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xxv. (D.), What am I to do with this daughter or daughterling of mine? 1808 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 65, I shall not condole with you on the daughtership. |