ladyhood

ladyhood

English

Etymology

lady +‎ -hood

Noun

ladyhood (uncountable)

1. the quality or state of being a lady or ladylike.
   • 1873, Various, The World's Greatest Books, Vol VI.‎:

     If you were, you would have no carriages to ride in, and your daughters would be what Martha and Mary and Lydia and Dorcas were, and their title to ladyhood founded on their degrees of goodness." "

   • 1904, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, A Woman of the World‎:

     I saw myself in the full flower of young ladyhood, carrying at my side an awkward lad of a dozen years, attired in knickerbockers, and probably chewing a taffy stick, yet "wooing and loving as never man loved before."

   • 1910, William Henry Irwin, The House of Mystery‎:

     But the effect of her voice, her ladyhood, and her command of this philosophy--those moved him.