‖ mesdames
(medam)
[Fr., pl. of madame.]
1. The plural of madame.
| c 1573 Gascoigne Posies, Flowers 43 And wherefore maruaile you Mez Dames, I praye you tell mee then. 1774 Gibbon Let. 24 May in Life & Lett. (1869) 233 The Mesdames, by attending their father, have both got the smallpox. |
2. Used to supply the want of an Engl. pl. of ‘Mrs.’
| 1792 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode to Margate Hoy 37 My good friend Johnson—Mesdames Windsor, Kelly. 1879 Illustr. Lond. News 15 Mar. 258/2 Mesdames Down and Jamieson. |