Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
Dame, dame
is Standard but old-fashioned or archaic in the senses meaning “an elderly woman” or a “woman of authority”; the meaning “a woman, a girl” is slang and taboo in nearly all Standard contexts. The British capitalize the honorific title given to a woman: Dame Agatha Christie. See also SIR.
