Dam"sel (?), n. [OE. damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, fr. OF. damoisele, damisele, gentlewoman, F. demoiselle young lady; cf. OF. damoisel young nobleman, F. damoiseau; fr. LL. domicella, dominicella, fem., domicellus, dominicellus, masc., dim. fr. L. domina, dominus. See Dame, and cf. Demoiselle, Doncella.]

1.

A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales.

[Obs.]

2.

A young unmarried woman; a gerl; a maiden.

With her train of damsels she was gone, In shady walks the scorching heat to shum. Dryden.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, . . . Goes by to towered Cameleot. Tennyson.

3. Milling

An attachment to a millstone spindle for shaking the hoppe.

 

© Webster 1913.

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