Crossword clues for concubine
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Concubine \Con"cu*bine\, n. [F., fr. L. concubina; con- + cubare to lie down, concumbere to lie together, akin to E. cubit.]
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A woman who cohabits with a man without being his wife; a paramour.
Note: Concubine has been sometimes, but rarely, used of a male paramour as well as of a female.
--Trench. A wife of inferior condition; a lawful wife, but not united to the man by the usual ceremonies, and of inferior condition. Such were Hagar and Keturah, the concubines of Abraham; and such concubines were allowed by the Roman laws. Their children were not heirs of their father.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 A woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife. 2 A slave-girl for sexual service prominent in all ancient cultures. 3 Signifies a relationship where the male is the dominant partner, socially and economically 4 A woman attached to a man solely for reproduction, and who cares for the resulting children without any romantic relationship. 5 (context especially formerly in Arabic societies, as well as in ancient Eastern societies English) a woman residing in a harem and kept, as by a sultan or emperor, for sexual purposes. 6 A woman kept by a man who is high in hierarchial society in addition to his wives, e.g in the imperial harem or within a household.
WordNet
Usage examples of "concubine".
On the third night after Jeremy had come aboard, he awakened, near midnight, from one of his Apollonian dreams, in which the Dark Youth had been summoning one of his concubines to attend him.
Jeremy had come aboard, he awakened, near midnight, from one of his Apollonian dreams, in which the Dark Youth had been summoning one of his concubines to attend him.
Bahima conqueror of the fourteenth or fifteenth century imposed a strict prohibition of intermarriage, though sometimes permitting himself a Bairu concubine.
As I was saying, might I present to the Commissioners the young lady, Shou Chin Hsin, better known in the Ebert household as Golden Heart, onetime concubine to the traitor Hans Ebert.
Some say that at the time of his death, or a short time before, he had nominated one of his illegitimate sons to succeed him named Ccapac Huari, son of a concubine whose name was Chuqui Ocllo.
A woman who had been a concubine of the late Inca, named Ccuri Ocllo, a kins-woman of Ccapac Huari, as soon as she arrived at Cuzco, spoke to her relations and to Ccapac Huari in these words.
Barely missing the wooden lampstand, Meren rushed into the hall to see the concubine Beltis lift a wine jar from its pedestal and hurl it at her younger brother-in-law.
It has always been Nabataean policy to send its most perfect daughter as a concubine to the King of Egypt.
Soon none of the other concubines he had brought with him from Omdurman were honoured by a summons to his private quarters.
They conquered till none were left to conquer, and then they dwelt at ease within their rocky mountain walls, with their man servants and their maid servants, their minstrels, their sculptors, and their concubines, and traded and quarrelled, and ate and hunted and slept and made merry till their time came.
The courtyard of the little swans gave out on a similarly carpeted, white-walled corridor lined with the doorsreal, wooden doors, not curtainsleading to the quarters of the full-fledged concubines.
But I think it was a woman named Zenaida, a concubine who haunts the deserted areas of the old seraglio, abandoned now even by the palace servants.
His wife, his lordes, and his concubines Aye dranke, while their appetites did last, Out of these noble vessels sundry wines.
Today, not only are the eunuchs the attendants and guardians of the wives and concubines, they are also councilors to the Great King, ministers of state and even, sometimes, generals and satraps.
Persian court, favorite wives or concubines of the Great King are often influential.