Wiktionary
n. 1 The wife or widow of a grand duke. 2 (''incorrectly'') sometimes applied to render a grand prince's female spouse 3 A daughter or granddaughter of a sovereign (czar or later emperor) of the Russian Empire or a pretender to the throne thereof.
WordNet
n. the wife of a grand duke or a woman holding that rank in her own right
Wikipedia
Grand Duchess (also known as Duchess de Luynes) is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. One unique feature of this game is the building of the reserve, which is not used until the entire stock runs out.
First, four cards are dealt face-up, one onto each tableau pile, and two more cards are dealt face-down on the reserve to be used later. After each deal of six cards, the player pauses to see if any cards are playable. Available for play to the foundations (which are above the four tableau piles) are the top cards of each tableau pile.
As they become available, one ace and one king of each suit are placed in the foundations. The aces are built up to kings while the kings are built down to aces, all by suit. Furthermore, once a foundation card is set, any can be built upon it at any time.
Once the player builds the necessary cards one could, another set of six is dealt: one on each of the four tableau piles and two face-down ones set aside on the reserve. Afterwards, the player builds more cards and the process is repeated until the stock runs out. Once this occurs, the entire reserve is turned face-up. All cards in that reserve become available to be built on the foundations, along with the top cards of each reserve pile.
When play goes on a stand still (when the tableau and the reserve no longer yields playable cards), the player is then entitled to three redeals. To do a redeal, the player picks up first tableau pile and places it over the second pile, picks up that newly formed pile and puts in over the third pile, and these three piles are then laid over the fourth pile. Then, the piles are turned face-down to form the new stock, and the remaining reserve piles are placed under it. On the first two redeals, the process of dealing one card on each of the four tableau piles and two more on the reserve faced down, stopping each time to make any play, and using the reserve when the stock runs out is repeated. But on the last redeal, there is no more reserve; all cards are dealt four at a time, one on each tableau pile.
The game ends soon after the stock runs out in the last redeal. The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.
Usage examples of "grand duchess".
She spent her time visiting Cracow, Sandomierz, and Plock, playing the grand duchess and not bothering the Banki brothers too much.
She could not imagine how he clung to life, but while he did, Grand Duchess Tatyana served as his voice in the Council.
There are two people to whom I am greatly attached-in quite different ways, as you will understand in a moment-two people both of whom have recently settled in Paris, where they intend to remain for the future: my wife, and the Grand Duchess John.
You know that Duchess of Swingleton, the snooty little jamtart who's supposed to be the daughter of Grand Duchess Olga of Sector Twenty?
He would stalk past the guards who had manhandled him so brutally and demand an audience with the Grand Duchess Sofia.
She raised a hand and one of the Guards entered the room, secured the chair Alyx had been using, then offered it to the Grand Duchess.
I thought of the marvel of that hour I had spent with the Grand Duchess Maria.
That snooty stinker that's supposed to be the daughter of the Grand Duchess?