Also 7 sultanna, 9 sultanah; pl. 7 sultanaes, 7–8 -a’s. [a. It. (Sp., Pg.) sultana fem. of sultano SULTAN.]
1. The wife (or a concubine) of a sultan; also, the queen-mother or some other woman of a sultan’s family.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., II. xviii. 51. The Sarail of Sultana, wife to the great Turke.
1599. Dallam, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.), 60. One houre after him [sc. the Grand Sinyor] came the Sultana his mother.
1625. Purchas, Pilgrims, II. IX. xv. § 1. 1581. The Queene, the other Sultanaes, and all the Kings women.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2198/1. The Grand Signior offers all his Treasure to be employed in the War. The Sultana 4000 Purses, of 500 Crowns each.
1735. Somerville, Chase, II. 509. The bright Sultanas of his Court Appear.
1736. Gentl. Mag., VI. 467/1. A Sultana, inclosed in a Seraglio, shall govern the whole Ottoman Empire.
1822. Byron, Juan, VI. lxxxix. Rose the sultana from a bed of splendour.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 231. Had not Hadassah been a sultana in the seraglio of Xerxes?
b. transf. and fig.
1838. Moore, Mem. (1856), VII. 232. Took my place in the front of Nell’s box, between two very pretty sultanas she had provided for me, Georgiana O’Kelly and Miss Burne.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xlviii. The elderly sultanas of our Vanity Fair. Ibid. (1850), Pendennis, vii. It was hard … that the matron should be deposed to give place to such a Sultana.
1864. Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., Assyria, vii. II. 168. The monarch and his sultana.
2. A mistress, concubine.
1702. Farquhar, Twin-Rivals, V. i. I’ll visit my Sultana in state.
1796. Charlotte Smith, Marchmont, I. 78. A person who in youth only was superior to his reigning Sultana.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxvi. The favourite sultana of the last Laird, as scandal went—the housekeeper of the present.
1885. J. F. Molloy, Royalty Restored, II. 83. Her card tables were thronged by courtiers eager to squander large sums for the honour of playing with the reigning sultana.
fig. 1813. Byron, Giaour, 22. The Rose,… Sultana of the Nightingale.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, III. vi. Shine on, (bright moon) sultana of the soul!
† 3. = SULTANIN. Obs. rare–0.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Sultanin, or Sultana, a Turkish coin of gold worth about Seven shillings six pence.
† 4. = SULTANE 3. Obs.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xlvi. Those great Ladies … with their Flandan, Top-knots and Sultana’s.
1693. Southerne, Maid’s last Prayer, II. i. [It] wou’d as ill become me, as a Sultana does a fat body.
† 5. A Turkish war-vessel. (Cf. SULTANE 4.) Obs.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Sultana is also a Turkish Vessel.
1733. Budgell, Bee, I. 74. The Grand Seignior is equipping a Squadron of Ten Sultana’s.
1738. Gentl. Mag., vii. 167/2. The Fleet for the Black Sea will be reinforc’d by several Sultanas.
[1810. Naval Chron., XXIV. 377. The term Sultana is a nonentity.]
6. Any bird belonging to either of the genera Porphyrio and Ionornis, found chiefly in the W. Indies, southern U.S.A., and Australia; the purple gallinule or porphyrio. Also attrib.
1837. Partington’s Brit. Cycl., Nat. Hist., II. 609/2. Sultana Hen (Gallinula porphyrio).
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 249. The Common Sultana (Fulica porphyrio, Lin.), a beautiful African species.
1870. Gillmore, trans. Figuier’s Reptiles & Birds, 297. The Hyacinthine Gallinule … or Sultana Fowl, is … an exaggeration of the Water Hen.
1872. A. Domett, Ranolf, XIV. iv. Black Sultana-birds.
7. In full sultana raisin: A kind of small seedless raisin produced in the neighborhood of Smyrna.
1841. Penny Cycl., XIX. 274/1. Muscatels, blooms, sultanas, raisins of the sun, and lexias.
1873. Punch, 27 Dec., 262/1. In Illyria the principal dish is an Ibex roasted whole, stuffed with … oysters, forcemeat balls, plovers’ eggs, and Sultana raisins.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XX. 258/2. Sultana seedless raisins are the produce of a small variety of yellow grape.
8. A confection of sugar.
[1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sultane (Fr.),… among Confectioners, a kind of Sugar-work made of Eggs, Powder-sugar, and fine Flower.]
1862. Francatelli, Royal Eng. & For. Confect., 282. A Sultana made of Spun Sugar in the form of a Summer Bower.
9. (See quot.)
1875. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, Sultana, a violin with strings of wire in pairs, like the cither or cittern. It was similar to the Streichzither.
10. attrib. and Comb.: sultana mother, the mother of the reigning sultan; sultana queen, the favorite concubine of a sultan; hence, a favorite mistress; also fig. (See also 6 and 7.)
1695. Lond. Gaz., No. 3088/2. Who was advanced to that Station by the Interest of the *Sultana Mother.
1753. Hanway, Trav. (1762), II. XIII. vii. 326. The greatest part … he sent to the sultan, the sultana mother, and the kislar aga.
1668. Dryden, Secret Love, III. i. You are my *Sultana Queen, the rest are but in the nature of your Slaves.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, V. i. The victim of sauntering, his sultana queen.
Hence Sultanaship, the position of a sultana.
1847. G. P. R. James, Russell, vi. ‘Very well, then,’ he rejoined, with a bitter sneer, you will soon be one of a harem! I wish you joy of your sultanaship!’
