subs. (common).—1.  A female celebrity; a woman of note.

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  1824.  SCOTT, St. Ronan’s Well, vii. All the lions and LIONESSES.

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  1837.  DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xv. Mr. Tupman was doing the honours of the lobster salad to several LIONESSES.

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  1855.  THACKERAY, The Newcomes, xli. For the last three months Miss Newcome has been the greatest LIONESS in London; the reigning beauty.

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  2.  (university).—A lady visitor to Oxford, especially at Commemoration.

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  1861.  T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxv. The notion that any of the fraternity who had any hold on LIONESSES, particularly if they were pretty, should not use it to the utmost for the benefit of the rest, and the glory and honour of the college, was revolting to the undergraduate mind.

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  3.  (old).—A harlot. For synonyms, see BARRACK-HACK and TART.

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  1590.  DAVIES, Epigrams, ‘In Faustum,’ xvi.

        But when he lost his hair, where he had been,
I doubt me he had seen a LIONESS.

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