Definition of "stepdame" []

• A stepmother. (noun)

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• "'To be sure, Maud; maybe you are right; a stepdame is a risk, and I ought to have asked you first what you thought of it; and upon my honour,' she continued merrily but kindly, observing that my eyes, I know not exactly from what feeling, filled with tears, 'I'll never again advise your papa to marry, unless you first tell me you wish it.'"
• "As duke, Theseus might easily hasten on the day of marriage if he wished, and indeed he chafes at the waning 'old moon 'that' lingers my desires/Like to a stepdame or a dowager/Long withering out a young man's revenue ', and yet he chooses to abide by the self-imposed delay."
• "The stepdame was more excellent in beauty then honesty: for she loved this young man her sonne in law, either because she was unchast by nature, or because she was enforced by fate of stepmother, to commit so great a mischiefe."