dame

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
dame/deɪm/

▶noun

• 1 (Dame) (in the UK) the title given to a woman with the rank of Knight Commander or holder of the Grand Cross in the Orders of Chivalry.

• 2 archaic or humorous an elderly or mature woman.

  ■ N. Amer. informal a woman.

  ■ (also pantomime dame) Brit. a comic middle-aged female character in pantomime, typically played by a man.

– origin ME: via OFr. from L. domina ‘mistress’.