duchessdom

Noun

duchessdom (countable and uncountable, plural duchessdoms)

1. The condition or title of a duchess.
   • She had a certain grandeur about her cap, and a majestical set about the skirt of her dress, and a rigour in the lines of her mouth, which indicated a habit of command, and a confidence in her own dignity, which might be supposed to be the very clearest attribute of duchessdom.1860, Anthony Trollope, “Two Witnesses”, in Castle Richmond. A Novel. (Collection of British Authors; Tauchnitz Edition; volume 520), volume I, Leipzig: [Christian] Bernhard Tauchnitz, page 308
   • “No, no; purchase a dukedom.” “I don’t want a dukedom; I want a duchessdom.” “That’s all right. Buy the title, give it to the cook, and let her marry some spectre of her own rank; she can give him the title; and there you are!”1894, John Kendrick Bangs, “The Spectre Cook of Bangletop”, in The Water Ghost and Others, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 98
2. A region ruled by a duchess.
   • The buskers gathered expectantly at their table, and presently the two came in, he who had thought a kingdom well lost for love, and she who had gained a duchessdom by it.1945, Douglas Reed, The Next Horizon: or, Yeomans’ Progress, London: Jonathan Cape, […], chapter 23, page 209
   • Astride his trusty equine colleague, he went from kingdom to queendom and from dukedom to duchessdom, asking for names and phone numbers.1998, Marina Yaguello, Trevor Harris, “The Miser and the Prodigal Son: Lexical meaning”, in Language Through the Looking Glass: Exploring Language and Linguistics, Oxford University Press, adaptation...