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Donna   /dˈɑnə/   Listen
Donna

noun
1.
An Italian woman of rank.



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"Donna" Quotes from Famous Books



... as if of a profound fatigue. Beside the hall door loomed the white mane of Brantome, who turned, at an inflow of artificial light, to greet the small Italian woman that had recently become a prima donna. ...
— Sacrifice • Stephen French Whitman

... from the heart of the West, of San Pasqual, a sun-baked desert town, of Harley P. Hennage, the best gambler, the best and worst man of San Pasqual and of lovely Donna. ...
— With Hoops of Steel • Florence Finch Kelly

... Donna Rafaela Mora," answered the girl, simply. "I am daughter of the Commandant of Fort San Carlos. I am no Nicaraguan, but a Spaniard And, senor, what ...
— The Strong Arm • Robert Barr

... not with disinheritance and such like, yet I do ask something in return for the great affection I have always borne thee; and I make no doubt that thou wilt readily oblige me in such a trifle as giving up a mere Spanish donna. So think of her no more. If thou wantest to make love, there are ladies in plenty whom thou needest not to marry. And for my part, I thought that thou wert all in all with the Lady Hasselton: Heaven bless her pretty face! Now don't think I ...
— Devereux, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... 'La donna il palafreno a dietro volta, E per la selva a tutta briglia il caccia; Ne per la rara piu, che per la folta, La piu sicura ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. III • William Wordsworth

... s'approcha du tas de foin. Il vit la chatte, et donna un coup de baonnette dans le foin avec ngligence, et en haussant les paules, comme s'il sentait que sa prcaution tait ridicule. Rien ne remua; et le visage de l'enfant ne trahit pas la plus ...
— Quatre contes de Prosper Mrime • F. C. L. Van Steenderen

... scrap-books grew in number and size. It became a task to keep up with his clippings. He developed into a personage, as much a personage as a grand-opera prima donna on tour. His successes were talked over in clubs. His name came to be known to the men in the street. His "camera eye" was now and then mentioned by the scientists. His unblemished record was referred to in an occasional editorial. ...
— Never-Fail Blake • Arthur Stringer

... become as hot an anarchist as Louise Michel. It is a mystery to me where you find out the Christian names of all the ungainly people in the congregation. The other sopranos would feel complimented to have a prima-donna with a face like a full moon and hands like a blacksmith's foisted upon them! One must have a little regard for appearances," and Isabelle drew her graceful figure up to its ...
— A Beautiful Possibility • Edith Ferguson Black

... spoke consolingly. "Fie, Donna Graciosa, you must not be too harsh with Eglamore. It is his nature to scheme, and he weaves his plots as inevitably as the spider does her web. Believe me, it is wiser to forget the rascal—as I do—until there is ...
— The Certain Hour • James Branch Cabell

... had a long naval career. In 1833 he commanded the Portuguese Fleet for Donna Maria, and won a small engagement against Dom Miguel. He was "not submissive" at Beyrout, where, having command of the land forces, and being told to retire and hand over the command, he advanced and won a victory, resulting in the evacuation of the city. He ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume III (of 3), 1854-1861 • Queen of Great Britain Victoria

... once fought a duel with a German baron who had insulted the prima donna; the weapons used were sabres, and Valabreque cut half of the Baron's nose clean off. Madame Catalani lived for many years, highly respected, at a handsome villa near Florence. Her two sons are now ...
— Reminiscences of Captain Gronow • Rees Howell Gronow

... to address Beatrice—O donna di virtu—as "bright fair," as if she were one of the belles in "The Rape of the Lock." In this same year a version of the "Inferno" was printed privately and anonymously by Charles Rogers, a book and art collector and a friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds. But the first complete ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century • Henry A. Beers

... Pepa, that he had gone way off with the little girl somewhere—what was that city you visited, Rafael?—Milan, yes, Milan, that's it! I've been told that's the market for singers. He wanted his Leonora to become a prima donna. He never came back, poor fellow!... Things must have gone badly with them. Every year he would write home to his sister to sell another piece of land. It is known that over there they lived in real poverty. In a few years the little fortune the Doctor got from his parents was gone. Poor ...
— The Torrent - Entre Naranjos • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... Poetry Pictures, Something about President's Message, the Prima Donna, Who paid for the Pure Pearl of ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. I, No. 1, Nov. 1857 • Various

... toe dancer in her attractive transformations; the Brothers Zincatello, Risley experts at the Hippodrome; Julian Jokes, "in his inimitable Hebrew monologue"; the Seven Sebastians, the world's most marvelous Herculean acrobatic performers; Mlle. Joujou, the popular singing comedienne, Prima Donna and Star, direct from her unusual and most distinguished triumph at the Palace Theater, London; and a dozen more of the younger and more popular people of the stage, all adorned, with adjectives and hyperbole. Down at the bottom of the ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1908. • Various

... 1801, had married his second wife, Alexandrine Laurence de Bleschamps, who had married, but who had divorced, a M. Jonberthon. When Lucien had been ambassador in Spain in 1801, charged among other things with obtaining Elba, the Queen, he says, wished Napoleon should marry an Infanta,—Donna Isabella, her youngest daughter, afterwards Queen of Naples, an overture to which Napoleon seems not to have made any answer. As for Lucien, he objected to his brother that the Queen was ugly, and laughed at Napoleon's representations as to her being "propre": but at last ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... the time came for Split to sing, Sissy was hovering about the prima donna in the dressing-room. As Miss Heliotrope she wore the dark-purple gown which Aunt Anne had made over from her own wardrobe. (Being Comstock-born, Sissy knew no flower intimately, and could easily be imposed upon as to their habits ...
— The Madigans • Miriam Michelson

... disposed of Ted leaned forward to catch Elinor's eye. "Have you broken the news to the future prima donna?" he asked with interest. "I saw Merton today—you know his sister is living at Venusburg now—and he said it was a dandy place. Receptions every week. Tea-room on the premises. Art mongers and singers and a few chaperones that ...
— Miss Pat at Artemis Lodge • Pemberton Ginther

... lady sang "Cherry Ripe" to the infinite satisfaction of her audience. Young Mowbray indeed, in the shape of Dandy Mick and some of his followers and admirers, insisted on an encore. The lady as she retired curtseyed like a Prima Donna; but the host continued on his legs for some time, throwing open his coat and bowing to his guests, who expressed by their applause how much they approved his enterprise. At length he resumed his seat; ...
— Sybil - or the Two Nations • Benjamin Disraeli

... Laws. Destruction of the two Houses of Parliament. Change of Ministry in France. Congress of Vienna. Donna Maria acknowledged Queen of Portugal. Opening of the Boston and Worcester Railroad. Resignation of Earl Grey, succeeded by Lord Melbourne, who is again shortly succeeded by Sir Robert Peel. Irish Coercion Bill. Death of La Fayette; of William Wirt; of Dr. Porter; ...
— A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon - For the Use of Schools and Colleges • John Lord

... dell' anno del 1494 sen' ando a i Re Catholici, menando seco Don Diego Colon, mio fratello, e me ancora, accioche seruissimo di paggi al serenissimo principe Don Giouanni, il qual viua in gloria, si come hauea commandata la Catholica Reina donna Isabella, che alhora era in Vagliadolid. Tosto adunque che noi giungemmo, i Re chiamarono Don Bartolomeo, et mandaronlo alia Spagnuola ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. • Richard Hakluyt

... most advertised, for she was a money-maker and demanded just so much notoriety when she engaged and signed her contracts. Her power was supreme and no one dared to say her nay. Woe be to the poor prima donna who sang better or had more applause or favors than she did. She was the only queen of song as long as her reign lasted. Emma Nevada and Madam Etelka Gersta were her especial victims when they sang the same ...
— Sixty Years of California Song • Margaret Blake-Alverson

... Andrea d'Angiolo del Sarto, a di 11 Ottobre 1528 ho ricevuto fiorini 80 d' oro di quei larghi [i.e. of two scudi each] della Tavola dell' Altar grande e di una mezza tavola della Visitazione, da Donna Caterina della Casa Fiorentina, Badessa di Luco." [Footnote: 2 ...
— Fra Bartolommeo • Leader Scott (Re-Edited By Horace Shipp And Flora Kendrick)

... great poet is underlaid with romance and sadness. Born at Lisbon about 1524, he was given an education fitting him for a courtier's life, and it was an unfortunate affection for a high-born donna in attendance upon the queen that caused him to be banished from the land of his birth. After a roystering career as a soldier in Africa, he sought shelter at Goa, in India. There he wrote a volume severely castigating the home government for its official abuses in the East, and this led to his ...
— East of Suez - Ceylon, India, China and Japan • Frederic Courtland Penfield

... de Monmout donna six guinees au Bourreau de Londres, pour lui bien couper la tete; mais le miserable ne merroit par ces guinees, puisqu'il la ...
— Notes & Queries 1850.02.09 • Various

... not spare the family in his analysis of their traits. If he seems ungallant in his references to his future Queen of the Night and to the prima donna of his "Elopement from the Seraglio," to say nothing of his former attachment for her, one must remember that this is a letter from a son to a father, in which frankness is permissible. He admits the intemperance and shrewishness of the mother; characterizes Josepha as lazy and vulgar; calls ...
— The Loves of Great Composers • Gustav Kobb

... Pope and Emperor began in the year 1076. Matilda was destined to play a great, a striking, and a tragic part in the opening drama of Italian history. Her decided character and uncompromising course of action have won for her the name of 'la gran donna d'Italia,' and have caused her memory to be blessed or execrated, according as the temporal pretensions and spiritual tyranny of the Papacy may have found supporters or opponents in posterity. She was reared from childhood in habits of austerity ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series • John Addington Symonds

... see offspring o' mine chasing the drums! Look at 'em now! Ruyven hunting about Tryon County for a Hessian to knock him in the head; Cecile sitting in rapture with every cornet or ensign who'll notice her; the children yelling for Lafayette and Washington; Dorothy, here, playing at Donna Quixota, and you starting for Stillwater to teach that fool, Gates, how to catch Burgoyne. Set an ass ...
— The Maid-At-Arms • Robert W. Chambers

... troupes from New York and Chicago in this auditorium provide two spectacles one on the stage and the other in the assemblage itself. The auditorium seats 10,000 persons. To be present when a prima donna awes this audience into silence by her tones, and then to hear a triumphant roar of approval rend the silence, is an unforgettable adventure of ...
— Fascinating San Francisco • Fred Brandt and Andrew Y. Wood

... mia donna Amore; Per che si fa gentil ciocch' ella mira: Ove ella passa, ogni uom ver lei si gira, E cui saluta fa tremar to core. Sicche bassando 'l viso tutto smuore, Ed ogni suo difetto allor sospira: Fugge dinanzi a lei superbia ed ira. Aiutatenmi, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 121, November, 1867 • Various

... Eldridge Entertainment (play) House Hallowe'en frolic Cone St. N. 20 pt. 1:15 (poem) Haunted gale (play) Wormwood Eldridge Entertainment House House in the wood Grimm Fairy tales (story) Little Butterkin Asbjornsen Fairy tales from the (story) far north Little Donna Juana Brooks (story) Mother Goose recital Musician, 21:633 Nix of the mill-pond Grimm Fairy tales (story) Peter Pan in Kensington Barrie Gardens (story) Rapunzel (story) Grimm Fairy tales Red shoes (story) Andersen Fairy tales ...
— The Book of Hallowe'en • Ruth Edna Kelley

... scene at the Teatro Real with Senor Espin y Guillen in a small group behind the scenes, and a prima donna singing. Actors ...
— Legends, Tales and Poems • Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

... cavalerie francaise faisait cette longue et terrible charge, le feu de notre artillerie etait deja moins nourri, et notre infanterie ne fit aucun mouvement. Quand la cavalerie fut rentree, et que l'artillerie anglaise, qui avait cesse de tirer pendant une demi-heure, eut recommence son feu, on donna ordre aux divisions Foy et Bachelu d'avancer droit aux carres qui s'y etaient avances pendant la charge de cavalerie et qui ne s'etaient pas replies. L'attaque fut formee en colonnes par echelons de regiment, Bachelu ...
— The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) • John Holland Rose

... she had ever possessed any really tangible ones. She wanted to help, as a matter of course, especially as all the rest did; but such an ordinary, self-denying way was sadly distasteful to her, and she still had a vague, but pleasing, idea of becoming a great prima-donna and electrifying vast concourses of people, who would praise, admire, and pay her largely. Unfortunately, however, such positions do not lie around in wait, and invite some one to honor them with an acceptance; but, in spite of such a discouraging fact, Ernestine held tenaciously to her pleasing ...
— Six Girls - A Home Story • Fannie Belle Irving

... to the Krumerweg her wooden shoes were golden slippers and her rough homespun, silk. Rich! Famous! She saw the opera ablaze with lights, she heard the roll of applause. She saw the horn of plenty pouring its largess from the fair sky. Rainbow dreams! But Gretchen never became a prima donna. There was something different on ...
— The Goose Girl • Harold MacGrath

... therefore not surprising that Wilfred Ball felt the same glow greatly intensified when he strolled up to the pay-box, twirling his walking-stick, to take his stand near by as the future proprietor of the girl inside. Perhaps the young husband of a great prima donna may feel nearly as sophisticated and proud and "in it" when he strolls carelessly into the dressing-room where the bouquets of admirers overflow upon the floor—but this is scarcely likely, for he would not have the morning freshness still ...
— The Privet Hedge • J. E. Buckrose

... Donna delinquente, la Prostituta e la Donna normale (Woman as Criminal and Prostitute), p. 374, Turin, 1893. [English readers will find an account of this widely-read book in Kureila's Cesare Lombroso, a Modern Man of Science, pp. ...
— The Sexual Life of the Child • Albert Moll

... into the mark! As a compensating device for rotten shooting it is unexcelled. It is a pity to laugh at it as much as we do; for I am convinced it is a conscientious arrow doing its best under natural handicap; like a prima donna with a ...
— Hunting with the Bow and Arrow • Saxton Pope

... from about middle C, pauses for a breath, and then astonishes her audience by striking off two perfectly attuned notes several degrees higher up, hitting her mark with the ease and deftness of a prima donna. So odd and surprising a laugh is sure to be quickly infectious, and its owner is never at a loss for company in her merriment, while a cheerful temper, unclouded by a shade of envy or suspicion, is not in the least disturbed ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885 • Various

... Donna Leonor recognised her chief danger in Don Pedro, and tried to win him over. When she summoned Cortes, she pressed him to sign the royal writs; then she offered to betroth his daughter Isabel to her son; Pedro secured a written promise, and ...
— Prince Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394-1460 A.D. • C. Raymond Beazley

... courant with all the chief topics of the day. He knew, and could tell you, the secret history of the last new opera; how much had been paid for it, what it had cost to produce, and all about the great green-room cabal against the new prima donna. He knew what amount of originality could be safely claimed for the last new drama that was taking the town by storm, and how many times the same story had been hashed up before. He had read the last French novel of any note, and could favour you ...
— The Argosy - Vol. 51, No. 3, March, 1891 • Various

... the saddle. He gayly salutes the Governor and General with a graceful sweep of his sombrero. He threads the crowded plaza with adroitness, swaying easily from side to side as he greets sober friend or demure Donna. He smiles kindly on all the tender-eyed senoritas who admire the brave soldier, and in their heart of hearts envy Juanita Castro, ...
— The Little Lady of Lagunitas • Richard Henry Savage

... of course the ladies know,— I have my doubts. No matter,—here we go! What is a Prologue? Let our Tutor teach: Pro means beforehand; logos stands for speech. 'T is like the harper's prelude on the strings, The prima donna's courtesy ere she sings; Prologues in metre are to other pros As worsted stockings are to engine-hose. "The world's a stage,"—as Shakespeare said, one day; The stage a world—was what he meant to say. The outside world's a blunder, that is clear; The real world that Nature ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... the dazzling allurements offered by various "careers" which bring fame and perhaps fortune. The glittering triumphs of a prima donna, a picture on the line in the Salon, or a possible book which shall sell into the hundred thousands, are not without a certain charm, even though people who are "wedded to their art" sometimes get a divorce ...
— The Spinster Book • Myrtle Reed

... embarquer lews troupes et leur materiel. L'amiral anglais qui commandait en mer Egee leur refusa son concours, esperant sans doute les deeterminer a se defendre. Quand, se rendant un compte plus exact de la situation, il donna son assentiment a cette evacuation, il etaii trop tard: les Bulgares entraient a Cavalla le jour meme."—Du Fournet, ...
— Greece and the Allies 1914-1922 • G. F. Abbott

... the other leading men. At Rome, as we passed through Italy, I made the acquaintance of many of my wife's friends, the most interesting of whom was, perhaps, Madame Minghetti, known to her friends as Donna Laura, and previously Princess Camporeale; and I obtained through Bonghi, whom we saw both at Naples and at Rome, an order to see Spezia—an order which was refused by the War Office, and granted by the ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2 • Stephen Gwynn

... presence of a lady; but it was knocked from his grasp, and we drove him from the grounds with blows and buffets. It was a strange spectacle, and the people came flocking to us in crowds. At first they would have interfered, but on hearing me cry, 'This for insulting the Donna Maria Crawford!' they desisted. And in this way we pursued him right to the Government House, where he flung himself upon the protection of ...
— At the Point of the Sword • Herbert Hayens

... gesture on Cataneo's part, as he seemed inclined to dispute this order, which was given with an action worthy of Semiramis,—the part in which la Tinti had won her fame,—the prima donna flew at the old ape and put him ...
— Massimilla Doni • Honore de Balzac

... [Donna Luiza, the Queen Regent of Portugal. She was daughter of the Duke de Medina Sidonia and widow of Juan IV. The Court wore the deepest mourning on this occasion. The ladies were directed to wear their hair plain, and to appear without spots on their faces, ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... After receiving more or less mixed orders from me, I have heard him softly singing in the courtyard, "Donna e mobile." I only regret that as a family we aren't musical enough to assist with ...
— The Smiling Hill-Top - And Other California Sketches • Julia M. Sloane

... bring to grace the ceremony. A rich muster she had made. They came in six coaches—the whole corps du ballet—French, Italian, men and women. Monsieur de B., the famous pirouetter of the day, led his fair spouse, but craggy, from the banks of the Seine. The Prima Donna had sent her excuse. But the first and second Buffa were there; and Signor Sc——, and Signora Ch——, and Madame V——, with a countless cavalcade besides of chorusers, figurantes, at the sight of whom Merry afterwards declared, that "then for the first time it struck ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2 • Charles Lamb

... the French songs I had brought with me, and they were numerous, for at that time there was no soiree in Paris—homely or fashionable—without romances; the public taste was not so fastidious as it has since become, and did not expect from a school-girl the performance of an operatic prima donna. When out in the boat on a peaceful and serene night, my husband rowing us slowly on the glassy water, it seemed that the melodies which rose and spread in the hazy atmosphere were the natural complement ...
— Philip Gilbert Hamerton • Philip Gilbert Hamerton et al

... la donna, onde sia colto Nella sua rete alcun novello amante; Ne con tutti, ne sempre un stesso volto Serba; ma cangia a tempo atto e sembiante." Tasso, Jerus. Del., c. ...
— Emile • Jean-Jacques Rousseau

... Donna of old Castile And a Troubadour were I, I'd sing at night beneath your room And weave you dreams in a minstrel's loom With rainbow tears and the roses' bloom And star-shine out of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, June 7, 1916 • Various

... Clotilde and Ermengarde had wits as sparkling as their eyes. There was a manager of the Opera, a great friend of Villebecque, and his wife, a splendid lady, who had been a prima donna of celebrity, and still had a commanding voice for a chamber; a Carlist nobleman who lived upon his traditions, and who, though without a sou, could tell of a festival given by his family, before the revolution, which had cost a million of ...
— Coningsby • Benjamin Disraeli

... elements, pourtant soun Dieu, follows the maiden through the underground passage, and escapes with all his followers. At Chateau-Renard he sets up his court with the King of Forcalquier, Naples, and Jerusalem and Donna Iolanthe his Queen. Nerto asks the Pope to save her soul, but he is powerless. Only a miracle can save a soul sold to Satan. She must enter a convent, and pray to the Saints continually. The Court is about ...
— Frederic Mistral - Poet and Leader in Provence • Charles Alfred Downer

... rey Don Felipe a la princesa de Portugal Donna Juana su hermana, in Ribadeneyra, ...
— A History of England Principally in the Seventeenth Century, Volume I (of 6) • Leopold von Ranke

... pad of Jud's slippered feet about the kitchen premises—where he was carrying up from the cellar things that might freeze—ceased. He called "Good night, daughter," from the foot of the stairs, and the house grew quiet. But one is not a prima donna the first time for nothing, and it seemed as if we could not go to bed. Our light must have burned long after every other in Riverbend was out. The muslin curtains of Nell's bed were drawn back; Mrs. Deane ...
— A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays • Willa Cather

... hereditary possession, Forli, she gallantly defended first against his murderers, and then against Cesare Borgia. Though finally vanquished, she retained the admiration of her countrymen and the title 'prima donna d'Italia.' This heroic vein can be detected in many of the women of the Renaissance, though none found the same opportunity of showing their heroism to the world. In Isabella Gonzaga this type ...
— The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy • Jacob Burckhardt

... style and all that sort of thing and a damn good producer into the bargain! But the worst devil that ever escaped out of hell never had a wickeder temper! She and I fight all the time! Not a show, but she doesn't keep the stage waiting! But I won! I won't have her prima donna tricks in this theatre and so I've told her! Hullo, ...
— Okewood of the Secret Service • Valentine Williams

... 6th I made Cape Tiberoon, on the west end of the island of Saint Domingo, without having fallen in with any vessels, and about eight o'clock the same evening I passed the Navasa, and carried a fine breeze till the following morning, when I brought Donna Maria to bear east at the distance of two or three leagues. I had not liked the look of the weather ...
— Hurricane Hurry • W.H.G. Kingston

... of the dramatic incidents of her life as a diplomat's wife, a generation ago, in Europe. The old composer of her famous cradle-song shared with the publisher of her "Letters from an Attache's Wife," and the prima-donna she had discovered and educated, a merry little Italian table where her musician son made the proud fourth. A party of old pupils from the convent school where she had spent a year surprised the room with the valedictory verses she had written for the class, and at her bridesmaid's ...
— The Strange Cases of Dr. Stanchon • Josephine Daskam Bacon

... connais, ils n'auront garde de vous elire.' La-dessus il se leva, emu de colere, rentra dans son appartement, et mourut quelques jours apres. Ce frere, contre lequel il s'etait emporte, fut precisement le successeur qu'on lui donna. C'etait un merite don't on aimait a tenir compte; surtout a un parent, de s'etre mis en opposition avec le chef de la republique."—DARU, Hist, de Venise, ...
— The Works of Lord Byron - Poetry, Volume V. • Lord Byron

... against the foreign supporters of Don Miguel, the head of the clerical and reactionary party, had not permanently restored peace to that country. Miguel indeed accepted the constitution, and, after betrothing himself to the infant sovereign, Donna Maria, who was still with her father Pedro, in Brazil, entered upon the Regency which his elder brother had promised to him. But his actions soon disproved the professions of loyalty to the constitution which he had made; and after dissolving the Cortes, and re-assembling the mediaeval ...
— History of Modern Europe 1792-1878 • C. A. Fyffe

... day it rained; and Mrs. Delano read aloud "The Lady of the Lake," stopping now and then to explain its connection with Scottish history, or to tell what scenes Rossini had introduced in La Donna del Lago, which she had heard performed in Paris. The scenes of the opera were eagerly imbibed, but the historical lessons rolled off her memory, like water from a duck's back. It continued to rain and drizzle for three days; and Flora, who was very atmospheric, began to yield to the dismal ...
— A Romance of the Republic • Lydia Maria Francis Child

... in the other sex. In other words, Cooper is not happy in representing those shadowy and delicate graces which belong exclusively to woman, and distinguish her from man; but he is generally successful in sketching in woman those qualities which are found in both sexes. In "The Bravo," Donna Violetta, the heroine, a rich and high-born young lady, is not remarkable one way or the other; but Gelsomina, the jailer's daughter, born in an inferior position, reared in a sterner school of discipline and struggle, is a beautiful ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various

... entertainment particularly brilliant is the fact that it is to be graced by the dazzling presence of the peerless Donna Velvetina Peeleretta, who, as every one knows, is shortly to wear the diamond tiara of the house ...
— Boycotted - And Other Stories • Talbot Baines Reed

... us during the agitation of that question as it has been previously? Will not our reception in the Tagus, and friendly occupation of it, be as important to England now, as it has been heretofore? I do not now wish to discuss the claims of Don Miguel and Donna Maria—this is not the occasion for it—I only mean to convey my decided opinion, that the friendship of Portugal is necessary to this country. If we deprive Portugal of the advantages of this wine trade for a revenue of 100,000 l., putting political economy and commerce out of the question, ...
— Maxims And Opinions Of Field-Marshal His Grace The Duke Of Wellington, Selected From His Writings And Speeches During A Public Life Of More Than Half A Century • Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

... vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Democratic Party 8, ICM 4, independent 3 note: the Virgin Islands elects one non-voting representative to the US House of Representatives; election last held 7 November 2006 (next to be held November 2008); results - Donna ...
— The 2007 CIA World Factbook • United States

... narrowness of insolent and loveless pride, but with the passionate gentleness of an infinitely variable, because infinitely applicable, modesty of service—the true changefulness of woman. In that great sense—"La donna e mobile," not "Qual pium' al vento"; no, nor yet "Variable as the shade, by the light quivering aspen made"; but variable as the LIGHT, manifold in fair and serene division, that it may take the colour of all that it ...
— Sesame and Lilies • John Ruskin

... seriously disturbed; I felt the necessity of obtaining some relief, which might turn my thoughts for a while into a new channel. The secretary called on me, while I was still in doubt what to do. He reminded me that a new prima donna was advertised to appear on that night; and he suggested that we should go to the opera. Feeling as I did at the time, ...
— Little Novels • Wilkie Collins

... with him in favors of his father Lee to be Justice Clerk in place of Renton: he being an old man, and not supposed he can enjoy it long, its talked it is for the behoof of some on or other of his children, but especially the Collonells selfe. This was our Donna Olimpias[607] doing. ...
— Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36 • Sir John Lauder

... The story, when she understood it, shocked and repelled her. It seemed strange that crime should be set to music, and that one should have to see abduction, treachery, vice, and a murder brutally committed in full view of the audience, while the tenor sang the lightest of all his lyrics: "La donna ...
— Olive in Italy • Moray Dalton

... which I could not read; for, by the way, your brother and I agree that you are grown not to write legibly: is that lady in being? I knew her formerly. Madame de Blot(155) I know, and Monsieur de Paulmy I know; but for Heaven's sake who is Colonel Conway?(156) Mademoiselle Sanadon is la sana donna, and not Mademoiselle Celadon,(157) as you call her. Pray assure my good Monsieur Schouwalov(158)of my great regard: he is one ...
— Letters of Horace Walpole, V4 • Horace Walpole

... as she descended the stairway, bright spots of colour flaming in her cheeks and the diamonds sparkling in her ears. A prima donna might have guessed her feelings as she paused, a little breathless on the wide landing under the windows. She heard a footstep. Hugh came out of the library and stood motionless, looking up at her. ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... San Martin for a passport, to avoid capture by the Chilian squadron. This was refused; but Lady Cochrane having arrived at Callao in the British frigate Andromache, to take leave of me previous to her departure for England, the Viceroy's lady, Donna Angela, begged of her Ladyship to use her influence with the General to obtain leave for her departure for Europe. Lady Cochrane immediately proceeded to Haura, and effected the object; after which she remained for ...
— Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, - from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 1 • Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald

... "Donna Maddalena," said Fabiano, "here is a signora who knows Ruffo. I met her at the Mergellina, and she asked me to show ...
— A Spirit in Prison • Robert Hichens

... she took it up, and rendered the prima donna quite as effectively, interjecting "The Last Rose of Summer" as an aria in a manner that would have been encored in San Francisco. He responded with a few staccato notes, and the scene ended by their rushing into each other's ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, November, 1878 - of Popular Literature and Science • Various

... look, much more than in the words of the Donna Inez de Quexada, a soothing and tender interest that was as balm to the heart of Leila; in truth, she had been made the guest of, perhaps, the only lady in Spain, of pure and Christian blood, who did not despise or execrate the name of Leila's tribe. Donna Inez had herself contracted ...
— Leila, Complete - The Siege of Granada • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... of a national spirit by Count Henry's widow Donna Theresa and her son Affonso Henriquez, who from a Lord of Coimbra and Oporto, dependent on the Kingdom of Gallicia or of Leon, becomes the first free King of Portugal. His victories over the Moors ...
— Prince Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394-1460 A.D. • C. Raymond Beazley

... charity. These lessons he lays down with particular advice how to subside our passions. In his treatise on the Audi filia, or on those words of the Holy Ghost, Psa. xliv, Hear me, daughter, bend thine ear, forget thy house, &c. The occasion upon which he composed this book was as follows: Donna Soncha Carilla, daughter of Don Lewis Fernandez of Cordoba, lord of Guadalcazar, a young lady of great beauty and accomplishments, was called to court to serve in quality of lady of honor to the queen. ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler

... The School for Greybeards, produced at Drury Lane, 25 November, 1786. It owes much of its business to The Lucky Chance. See the Theatrical History of that comedy (Vol. iii, p. 180). Miss Farren acted Donna Seraphina, second wife of Don Alexis, one of the Greybeards. She also spoke ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. I (of 6) • Aphra Behn

... at the stalls of Sanchobienaya; and that, wherever she was, she would serve and honor him as her lord. Don Quixote, in reply, requested her, for his sake, to do him the favor henceforth to add to her name the title of don, and call herself Donna Tolosa, which she promised to do. The other girl now buckled on his spur, and with her he held nearly the same conference as with the lady of the sword; having inquired her name, she told him it was Molinera, and that she was daughter ...
— Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... might just as well be a man; and indeed the poems he addressed to men, though they have nothing sensual about them, reveal a finer touch in the emotion of the writer. It is difficult to connect this vaporous incorporeal "donna" of the poems with those brawny colossal adult females of the statues, unless we suppose that Michelangelo remained callous both to the physical attractions and the emotional distinction of ...
— The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti • John Addington Symonds

... a question, Donna Violante! Not a man in Seville, not a man in Spain, but would send you gifts if he dared. It is not ...
— King Arthur's Socks and Other Village Plays • Floyd Dell

... the Don, "relate to you, sir, for the information of yourself and friend, the causes which produced this scene of violence, which you so opportunely defeated. But first, as it must be very tedious to your friend, I will send for Donna Clara and my daughter Agnes to talk to him; my wife understands a little Spanish, and my daughter, as I said before, has but just left the country, where, from circumstances, ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Captain Frederick Marryat

... I must chronicle my debts to the ladies. First to those two courteous Portuguese ladies, Donna Anna de Sousa Coutinho e Chichorro and her sister Donna Maria de Sousa Coutinho, who did so much for me in Kacongo in 1893, and have remained, I am proud to say, my firm friends ever since. Lady MacDonald and Miss Mary Slessor I speak of in this book, ...
— Travels in West Africa • Mary H. Kingsley

... stories were all palpitating with sensibility, although that name had not yet been invented to describe their condition. When they received a letter beginning "To the divine Lassellia," or "To the incomparable Donna Emanuella," they were thrown into the most violent disorder; "a thousand different Passions succeeded one another in their turns," and as a rule "'twas all too sudden to admit disguise." When a lady in Eliza Haywood's novels receives a note from ...
— Gossip in a Library • Edmund Gosse

... declaration of love, an offer of marriage, and, presumably, a hint at the settlement, is, with our more practical visionaries and enthusiasts of the nineteenth century, rather an echo of the stock market than a poetical fancy. We fear that no prima donna looks at her flowers without a thought of how much they have cost, and that the belle estimates her bouquet according to the commercial value of a lily- of-the-valley as compared with that of a Jacqueminot rose, rather than as flowers simply. It is a pity that the overwhelming luxury of ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

... rough, blustering manner, once got from a witness more than he gave. In a trial of a right of fishery, he asked the witness: "Dost thou love fish?"—"Aye," replied the witness, with a grin, "but I donna like cockle sauce with it." The learned serjeant was not pleased with the roar of laughter ...
— Law and Laughter • George Alexander Morton

... was acquainted with the Donna of the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo requested her to smother the King of France with kindness, and demonstrate to him the great advantage of the Castilian imagination over the simple movement of the French. ...
— Droll Stories, Volume 2 • Honore de Balzac

... 'the small are of just as much importance as the great, in an artistic whole.' Then the hero demanded that the whole of his part should only be retorts on making his exit, for these the public applauded; the prima donna would only play in a red light, for that suited her best—she would not be blue: they were all like flies in a bottle, and I was also in the bottle—for I was the manager. I lost my breath, my head was quite dizzy! I was as miserable as a man can be; it was a new race of beings I ...
— Pictures of Sweden • Hans Christian Andersen

... had resumed his stroll, to a teasing little tune in his beard. What was it? Oh! yes, from "Rigoletto": "Donna a mobile." Just what he would think! She squeezed ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... as much jollity as weddings are anywhere. We witnessed one in the house of our friend the Padre. It being the marriage of his goddaughter, he kindly invited us to be partakers in his joy; and we there became acquainted with old Donna Engenia, who was a married wife and had children, when the slaves came from Cassange, before any of us were born. The whole merry-making was marked ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone

... woman, she, her, female, petticoat. feminality^, muliebrity^; womanhood &c (adolescence) 131. womankind; the sex, the fair; fair sex, softer sex; weaker vessel. dame, madam, madame, mistress, Mrs. lady, donna belle [Sp.], matron, dowager, goody, gammer^; Frau [G.], frow^, Vrouw [Du.], rani; good woman, good wife; squaw; wife &c (marriage) 903; matronage, matronhood^. bachelor girl, new woman, feminist, suffragette, suffragist. nymph, wench, grisette^; girl &c (youth) 129. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... virago, with brown shoulders, and black hair, endowed with the strength of an Amazon, "a face like Faustina's, and the figure of a Juno—tall and energetic as a pythoness," she quartered herself for twelve months in the palace as "Donna di governo," and drove the servants about without let or hindrance. Unable to read or write she intercepted his lordship's letters to little purpose; but she had great natural business talents, reduced by one half the expenses of his household, kept everything in ...
— Byron • John Nichol

... will find as yo' may as well leave th' engineer be," Joan would say dryly. "Yo' will na fear him much, an' yo'll tire yo'rsens wi' yo're clatter. I donna see the good o' barkin' so much when ...
— That Lass O' Lowrie's - 1877 • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... with frowning castles and embattled towns. And such an embattled town was this same city of Avila, in which, in 1525, lived the stern and pious old grandee, Don Alphonso Sanchez de Cepeda, his sentimental and romance-loving wife, the Donna Beatrix, and their twelve ...
— Historic Girls • E. S. Brooks

... direct, With wine and oil for cargo, Her crew of men some nine or ten, The captain's name was Jago; A good and gallant bark she was, La Donna (call'd) ...
— The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood • Thomas Hood

... which also I can bring up before my mind's eye, and find it very beautiful, although one of the faces has an affected smile, which I have since seen on another picture by the same artist, Joanna of Aragon. The most striking picture in the collection, I think, is Titian's "Bella Donna,"—the only one of Titian's works that I have yet seen which makes an impression on me corresponding with his fame. It is a very splendid and very scornful lady, as beautiful and as scornful as Gainsborough's Lady Lyndoch, though of an entirely different type. There were two ...
— Passages From the French and Italian Notebooks, Complete • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... occupied together, Rodney drew on a shoe and stamped his foot down into it with an emphasis that shook the floor. Devon, fastening his tie before the full-length mirror set in the door leading to their common bath-room, started at the sound, like a high-strung prima donna. This was one of ...
— The Girl in the Mirror • Elizabeth Garver Jordan

... you passed. I began to think the Pontiac was haunted. I thought you were a ghost. I don't know why such a ghost should FRIGHTEN anybody," he went on with a desperate attempt to recover his position by gallantry. "Let me see—that's Donna Elvira's ...
— By Shore and Sedge • Bret Harte

... one after another they failed. Frederick A. Gower was the first of these. He was an adventurous chevalier of business who gave up an agent's contract in return for a right to become a roving propagandist. 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 ...
— The History of the Telephone • Herbert N. Casson

... Donna Margherita pleaded that she might be allowed to put the theme aside, as she told of the disaffection of some of the ancient nobles of Cyprus who had been despoiled of vast estates because of their sympathy with Queen Carlotta. ...
— The Royal Pawn of Venice - A Romance of Cyprus • Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull

... Napier's naval victory. When the news of the result of that battle reached the island, the holders of the remaining cargo proposed to hand it over for a consideration to certain parties in the interest of Donna Maria, and it was accordingly consigned to a Portuguese house in London. The vessel in which it was sent was called the Saint Anne, of 60 tons, and sailed under British colours: the cargo consisted of 564 bags,[8] each containing 2 ...
— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman

... of King Charles II. he was the first of his father's servants that he took any notice of, and made him gentleman-usher of his privy chamber: the same place he enjoyed under the deceased King. Upon Charles IId's marriage with Donna Catherina of Portugal, he was created his Majesty's first vice chamberlain, in which honourable station he ...
— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Vol. III • Theophilus Cibber

... and lamentable is the decay of stage beauty since the days of George IV. Think of Sontag! I remember her in Otello and the Donna del Lago in '28. I remember being behind the scenes at the opera (where numbers of us young fellows of fashion used to go), and seeing Sontag let her hair fall down over her shoulders previous to her murder by Donzelli. Young fellows have never ...
— Some Roundabout Papers • W. M. Thackeray

... tribe could speak, it would arise and whinny paeans to the name of Oliver, joining in the chorus of farmers. For a moldboard that always scours gives a peace to a farmer like unto that given to a prima donna by a dress ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 11 (of 14) - Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Businessmen • Elbert Hubbard

... skies. Autontimorumenos. Bous Stephanoumenos. Where's your configuration? Stephen, Stephen, cut the bread even. S. D: sua donna. Gia: di lui. gelindo risolve di ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce

... udi 'Dolce Maria!' Dinanzi a noi chiamar cosi nel pianto Come fa donna che 'n partorir sia."—Purg. ...
— Legends of the Madonna • Mrs. Jameson

... a visit from Monsieur Aimi Humbert of Switzerland, our able general secretary for the continent. Much encouragement was derived from the reports which reached us from France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and even Spain, where a noble lady, Donna Concepcion Arenal of Madrid, and several gentlemen have warmly espoused our cause. The progress is truly encouraging; yet, on the other hand, it is obvious that the partisans of this legislation have recently been smitten with a kind of rage for extending the system everywhere, and ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... celebrated lyric soprano, whose opinion would be worth having, and perhaps final. The great singer had the reputation of being very good-natured in such cases and was on friendly terms with Margaret's teacher, the latter being a retired prima donna. Margaret felt sure of a fair hearing, therefore, and it was for this trial that she was going to the ...
— Fair Margaret - A Portrait • Francis Marion Crawford

... prize A lover's sigh more dear than mine own pleasure. See, the Signora Julia passed again. She is far too pale for so much white, I find. Donna Aurora—ah, how beautiful! That spreading ruff, sprinkled with seeds of gold, Becomes her well. Would you believe it, sir, Folk say her face is ...
— The Poems of Emma Lazarus - Vol. I (of II.), Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic • Emma Lazarus

... the Peace of Westphalia an attempt was made by the famous Jewess, Donna Gracia Nasi, to obtain protection for her persecuted co-religionists by diplomatic action, and it proved successful. The circumstances will be narrated presently.[11] It stood, however, alone for two hundred years. Even after the Peace eminent Jews, who sought in a like way to enlist the ...
— Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question • Lucien Wolf

... expressly mentioned), and he played them in a free sort of transcription, singing here and there as he felt disposed. Of his wife it is only told that she sang two arias. We might guess, since her voice was said to be as strong as it was sweet, that she chose Donna Anna's Or sai, chi l'onore, and ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VII. • Various

... be silent then over the work of Donna Sovrani?" enquired the Abbe gaily. "Must we not ...
— The Master-Christian • Marie Corelli

... once, when he married her; now she had grown old Critical in their first glance at a prima donna Forgetfulness is like a closing sea He is inexorable, being the guilty one of the two Her singing struck a note of grateful remembered delight It rarely astonishes our ears. It illumines our souls Madness that sane men enamoured can be struck by Obedience oils necessity Our life is ...
— Quotations from the Works of George Meredith • David Widger

... bedside, with the nurse detailed to exercise Fanchonette in the yard below, she gave herself up to the pleasure of recounting at length her troubles of the past few months. She enjoyed talking, as a prima donna enjoys singing: she loved to hear the cadences of her own voice, and to watch the gestures of her ...
— A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill • Alice Hegan Rice



Words linked to "Donna" :   adult female, woman, Italian



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