Adjacent Words

Daughter definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DAUGHTER, n,
1. The female offspring of a man or woman; a female child of any age.
2. A daughter in law; a son's wife. Ruth 3.
3. A woman; plu. female inhabitants.
Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land.
Genesis 34.
4. A female descendant; lineage of females. Luke I.
5. The female penitent of a confessor.
This word is used in scripture for the inhabitants of a city or country, male and female. Is. xvi.2. Matthew 21. Also as a term of affection or kindness.
Daughter, be of good comfort. Matthew 9.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a female human offspring; "her daughter cared for her in her old age" [syn: daughter, girl] [ant: boy, son]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, doughter, from Old English dohtor; akin to Old High German tohter daughter, Greek thygat?r Date: before 12th century 1. a. a female offspring especially of human parents b. a female adopted child c. a human female descendant 2. something considered as a daughter <the United States is a daughter of Great Britain> 3. an atomic species that is the product of the radioactive decay of a given element • daughterless adjective II. adjective Date: 1614 1. having the characteristics or relationship of a daughter 2. belonging to the first generation of offspring, organelles, or molecules produced by reproduction, division, or replication <daughter cell> <daughter DNA molecules>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a girl or woman in relation to either or both of her parents. 2 a female descendant. 3 (foll. by of) a female member of a family, nation, etc. 4 (foll. by of) a woman who is regarded as the spiritual descendant of, or as spiritually attached to, a person or thing. 5 a product or attribute personified as a daughter in relation to its source (Fortune and its daughter Confidence). 6 Physics a nuclide formed by the radioactive decay of another. 7 Biol. a cell etc. formed by the division etc. of another. Phrases and idioms: daughter-in-law (pl. daughters-in-law) the wife of one's son. Derivatives: daughterhood n. daughterly adj. Etymology: OE dohtor f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Daughter Daugh"ter, n.; pl. Daughters; obs. pl. Daughtren. [OE. doughter, doghter, dohter, AS. dohtor, dohter; akin to OS. dohtar, D. dochter, G. tochter, Icel. d[=o]ttir, Sw. dotter, Dan. dotter, datter, Goth. da['u]htar,, OSlav. d[u^]shti, Russ. doche, Lith. dukt[=e], Gr. qyga`thr, Zend. dughdhar, Skr. duhit[.r]; possibly originally, the milker, cf. Skr. duh to milk. [root]68, 245.] 1. The female offspring of the human species; a female child of any age; -- applied also to the lower animals. 2. A female descendant; a woman. This woman, being a daughter of Abraham. --Luke xiii. 16. Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughter of the land. --Gen. xxxiv. 1. 3. A son's wife; a daughter-in-law. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. --Ruth. i. 11. 4. A term of address indicating parental interest. Daughter, be of good comfort. --Matt. ix. 22. Daughter cell (Biol.), one of the cells formed by cell division. See Cell division, under Division.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(daughters) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Someone's daughter is their female child. ...Flora and her daughter Catherine. ...the daughter of a university professor... I have two daughters. N-COUNT: oft with poss

Easton's Bible Dictionary

This word, besides its natural and proper sense, is used to designate, (1.) A niece or any female descendant (Gen. 20:12; 24:48; 28:6). (2.) Women as natives of a place, or as professing the religion of a place; as, "the daughters of Zion" (Isa. 3:16), "daughters of the Philistines" (2 Sam. 1:20). (3.) Small towns and villages lying around a city are its "daughters," as related to the metropolis or mother city. Tyre is in this sense called the daughter of Sidon (Isa. 23:12). (4.) The people of Jerusalem are spoken of as "the daughters of Zion" (Isa. 37:22). (5.) The daughters of a tree are its boughs (Gen. 49:22). (6.) The "daughters of music" (Eccl. 12:4) are singing women.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

do'-ter (bath; thugater): Used in Scriptures in several more or less distinct senses:

(a) for daughter in the ordinary, literal sense (Ge 46:25; Ex 1:16);

(b) daughter-in-law (Ru 2:2);

(c) grand-daughter or other female descendant (Ex 21; Lu 1:5; 13:16);

(d) the women of a country, or of a place, taken collectively (Lu 23:28), of a particular religion (Mal 2:11);

(e) all the population of a place, taken collectively, especially in Prophets and poetic books (Ps 9:14; Isa 23:10; Jer 46:24; Mt 21:5);

(f) used in familiar address, "Daughter, be of good comfort" (Mt 9:22 the King James Version; Mr 5:34; Lu 8:48);

(g) women in general (Pr 31:29);

(h) the personification of towns or cities, as of the female sex (Isa 47:1; Eze 16:44,46; compare Na 3:4,7), especially of dependent towns and villages (Ps 48:11; Nu 21:25 margin; Jud 1:27 margin);

(i) in Hebrew idiom for person or thing belonging to or having the characteristics of that with which it is joined, as "daughter of ninety years," of Sarah, ninety years old (Ge 17:17); "daughters of music," singing birds, or singing women (Ec 12:4); daughters of a tree, i. e. branches; daughter of the eye, i. e. the pupil.

Daughters were not so highly prized as sons, not being usually mentioned by name. A father might sometimes sell his daughter as bondwoman (Ex 21:7); though not to a foreigner (Ex 21:8); daughters might sometimes inherit as did sons, but could not take the inheritance outside of the tribe (Nu 36:1-12).

Edward Bagby Pollard

Moby Thesaurus

aunt, auntie, blood brother, brethren, brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy, child, country cousin, cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, descendant, father, first cousin, foster brother, foster child, frater, grandchild, granddaughter, grandnephew, grandniece, grandson, granduncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, half brother, heiress, kid brother, mother, nephew, niece, nuncle, nunks, nunky, offspring, scion, second cousin, sis, sissy, sister, sister-german, sistern, son, son and heir, sonny, stepbrother, stepchild, stepdaughter, stepsister, stepson, unc, uncle, uncs, uterine brother