lady

lady [ladies, -'s] n

OE hlæfdíge, bread kneader; NW says related to hláford, lord, bread giver.

1. Damsel; maiden; [fig.] flower.
2. Self; author; poet; female persona of the poem.
3. Dame; woman; often noblewoman; gentlewoman; refined woman; woman of prestige.
4. Phrase. “Lady of the Occident”: sunset; [personification] solar light in relation to the movement of the earth at eventide.
5. Phrase. “Sweet Lady – Charity”: dear woman, please be generous; kind matron, please give us bread; sweet lady, for charity's sake please hear me; (see Gloucester to Anne in Shakespeare's King Richard III 1.2 “Sweet saint, for charity, be not so cursed”).