(ladies)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
You can use ~ when you are referring to a woman, especially when you are showing politeness or respect.
She’s a very sweet old ~...
...a ~ doctor.
...a cream-coloured ~’s shoe.
N-COUNT
see also old ~
2.
You can say ‘ladies’ when you are addressing a group of women in a formal and respectful way.
Your table is ready, ladies, if you’d care to come through...
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
N-VOC politeness
3.
A ~ is a woman from the upper classes, especially in former times.
Our governess was told to make sure we knew how to talk like English ladies.
N-COUNT
4.
In Britain, Lady is a title used in front of the names of some female members of the nobility, or the wives of knights.
My dear Lady Mary, how very good to see you.
N-TITLE
5.
If you say that a woman is a ~, you mean that she behaves in a polite, dignified, and graceful way.
His wife was great as well, beautiful-looking and a real ~...
N-COUNT
6.
People sometimes refer to a public toilet for women as the ladies. (BRIT INFORMAL)
At Temple station, Charlotte rushed into the Ladies.
N-SING: usu the N
7.
‘Lady’ is sometimes used by men as a form of address when they are talking to a woman that they do not know, especially in shops and in the street. (AM INFORMAL)
What seems to be the trouble, ~?...
N-VOC politeness
8.
see also First Lady , Our Lady