donna

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Don·na

(dŏn′ə, dōn′nä)

Used as a courtesy title before the name of a woman in an Italian-speaking area.

[Italian, from Latin domina; see Doña.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Donna

(ˈdɒnə; Italian ˈdɔnna)

an Italian title of address equivalent to Madam, indicating respect

[C17: from Italian, from Latin domina lady, feminine of dominus lord, master]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

don•na

(ˈdɔn nɑ)

n., pl. -nas.

1. (cap.) Madam; Lady: an Italian title of respect prefixed to the given name of a woman.

2. an Italian lady.

[1660–70; < Italian < Latin domina, feminine of dominus]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

donna - an Italian woman of rank

Italian - the Romance language spoken in Italy

adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

This was especially the case when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that--well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna's stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more significant moment than just as she was singing: "He loves me--he loves me not--HE LOVES ME!--" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.

" the prima donna sang, and "M'ama!", with a final burst of love triumphant, as she pressed the dishevelled daisy to her lips and lifted her large eyes to the sophisticated countenance of the little brown Faust-Capoul, who was vainly trying, in a tight purple velvet doublet and plumed cap, to look as pure and true as his artless victim.

View in context

Our young prima donna shall come in the evening, and sing to us.

The future prima donna had done practicing her scales, and was trying her voice now in selections from Italian operas.

View in context

Tupman said nothing; but he thought of Donna Christina, the stomach pump, and the fountain; and his eyes filled with tears.

View in context

Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima donna's absence.

View in context

"I binna frighted at Adam," said Ben, "but I donna mind sayin' as I'll let 't alone at your askin', Seth."

"Ne'er heed me, Seth," said Wiry Ben, "y' are a down-right good- hearted chap, panels or no panels; an' ye donna set up your bristles at every bit o' fun, like some o' your kin, as is mayhap cliverer."

View in context

Never had Anna of Austria appeared to him so beautiful, amid balls, fetes, or carousals, as she appeared to him at this moment, dressed in a simple robe of white satin, and accompanied by Donna Estafania-- the only one of her Spanish women who had not been driven from her by the jealousy of the king or by the persecutions of Richelieu.

View in context

Thursday the girls had a drive in the park, and in the evening Miss Barry took them to a concert in the Academy of Music, where a noted prima donna was to sing.

View in context

Unfortunately, the composition I was executing at the moment (I am one of the loudest of living whistlers) was by Verdi--" La Donna e Mobile"--familiar, no doubt, to his lordship on the street organs.

View in context

Later he met a prima donna, fell in love with and married her, forsook telephony for ballooning, and lost his life in attempting to fly across the English Channel.