landlady

Etymology

It is a compound from English land + lady,^[2][3][4][5] formed after landlord.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman who has tenants holding land or property from her: about 1533, in William Tyndale's Exposicion vppon Mathew.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to about 1536,^[7] Etymonline to the 1520s^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1530–40.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, a woman who lets land or a building to tenants, was used for a time figuratively for a mistress.^[2] From 1654 the word also meant the hostess of an inn or the mistress of a lodging house or boarding house,^[2][6] and Johnson (1755) gave both senses, quoting Swift for the mistress of an inn.^[4] Etymonline and Collins also record it for a landlord's wife.^[3][8] In Scottish use it meant one's hostess, the wife of one's host, from 1815, in Walter Scott's Guy Mannering.^[2][7] In 19th-century American slang it was also a euphemism for the keeper of a brothel (1879).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1533 – a woman who has tenants holding from her.^[2]
• 1654 – the hostess of an inn; the mistress of a lodging house or boarding house.^[2]
• 1815 – Scottish, one's hostess, the wife of one's host.^[2]
• 1879 – US slang, the keeper of a brothel.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman who owns a house, flat or land and rents or leases it to others: Our landlady raised the rent again in March.^[7][8][2]
2. A woman who owns or runs an inn, a pub, a boarding house or a lodging house.^[7][8][2]
3. The wife of a landlord.^[8][3]
4. (Scottish) The mistress of a private house; a hostess.^[7][2]

Related words

• landlord
• land
• lady

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com