grandame

He called Lady Ebba "grandame," as Eleanor had never dared to do, and though she was as strict with him as she was with every one else, she never seemed exactly displeased with him.

Masters of the Guild L. Lamprey 1910

Not the feeblest grandame, not a mowing idiot, but uses what spark of perception and faculty is left, to chuckle and triumph in his or her opinion over the absurdities of all the rest.

Representative Men 2006

“I have heard my grandame say, that before the gospellers came in, the old Catholic father confessors and their penitents always had a cup of sack together before confession; and you are my penitent.”

The Fortunes of Nigel 2004

Come, fair sir, dismount ye and partake of what little a poor old woman can offer, for certes, ye've naught to fear from me, nor I from ye, not at my age; though mind ye, there was a time -- But that was before ye were born, and now I am but a poor lonely old grandame, all too glad for news of the great doings beyond this humble cot.

Three Hearts and Three Lions Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1953

To the promenade, to church, or market, the good old grandame no longer used her crutch, but leaned on her granddaughter.

The King's Daughter and Other Stories for Girls Various

Essayist, historian, biographer, novelist, he is always intent to smooth away the asperities of his subject, and, like some stately grandame enthroned in high-backed chair, he remembers that his simple auditors are to be not merely entertained by the matter of his discourse, but impressed by the suave tones and high-bred prolixity of the speaker.

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 85, January, 1875 Various

With tears in her eyes and an enthusiasm that made her speech almost incoherent, the grandame talked of "Monsieur Neff," his courage, his friendliness, how he went among his people like one of themselves, and what good words he always spoke.

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876 Various

Hertfordshire, in whose family Lamb's maternal grandmother -- "the grandame" of his poem of that name, and the "great-grandmother Field" of

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864 Various

In our version, therefore, the "grandsire" becomes -- we trust without any loss of dignity or interest -- the "grandame" of the Russian navy: --

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 Various

Knickerbocker, very few of her sons would know much about the obligations of their nursing mother to their old grandame beyond sea, in the days of the Dutch dynasty.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 03, January, 1858 Various