quean

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For the bride was a stout household quean; her face painted with vermilion, and her person arrayed in uncouth embroidered garments. 

From The Life of Lord Byron by Galt, John

It should be noted that E. queen is not precisely the same word as E. quean.

From A Concise Dictionary of Middle English From A.D. 1150 to 1580 by Mayhew, A. L. (Anthony Lawson)

"Did I know Kate Happer?" replied the widow; "as well as the beggar knows his dish—a canty quean was Kate, and a special cummer of my ain maybe twenty years syne."

From The Monastery by Scott, Walter, Sir

She could coax you to the buying like a Cumnock quean, and fleece you in the selling like the cadgers o' Kincardine.

From The House with the Green Shutters by Brown, George Douglas

Wench meant at first nothing worse than girl or daughter, quean than woman, hussy than housewife; even woman is generally felt to be half-slighting.

From The Century Vocabulary Builder by Bachelor, Joseph M. (Joseph Morris)