heroine

plural heroines · alternative obsolete heroin

1. A female hero.
2. A female lead character.

   'I infer that you are the lady of the paragraph,' and the lifted hand indicated the open sheet of the Record lying nearby. […] 'Oh,' said Mr Carrados with an amused and deepening interest, 'so in addition to being the heroine of the adventure you wrote it up?'

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

   1 more example

   Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

   1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020

1. not comparablerareCharacteristic of a heroine; heroic.

   How otherwise than by a violation of a pledge could he have conquered Limerick, protected as it then was by the heroine bravery of its defenders.

   1824 February 24, Daniel O’Connell, edited by John O’Connell, The Life and Speeches of Daniel O’Connell, M.P., volume II, Dublin: […] James Duffy, […]; London: C. Dolman, […], published 1846, page 507

   4 more examples

   Theoxena to free hir Siſters children and hir owne from the laſciuious embraces of King Phillip, put weapons into their weaker hands, and perſwaded them Vt imminens ludibrium morte effugerent; to reſcue themſelues by Death from imminent diſgrace, wherein ſhe had no ſooner preuailed, but with a heroine reſolution ſhe ſhewed them by hir owne example, that what ſhee had taught them, was eaſie to be done.

   1616, D[aniel] T[uvill], “Of their outward modestie”, in Asylum Veneris, or A Sanctuary for Ladies. Iustly Protecting Them, Their Virtues, and Sufficiencies from the Foule Aspersions and Forged Imputations of Traducing Spirits., London: […] Edward Griffin for Laurence L’isle, […], page 41

   Her Brows ſoft Fur was of a paler Dye, / Conformable to that which prettily / Peep’d on her upper Lip, and cowardly / Made shew of Heroine Virility.

   1669, [William Wycherley], Hero and Leander, in Burlesque, London: [s.n.], page 13

   WE Your Majesties most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects do humbly crave Leave to Condole the Death of our late Gracious Sovereign, and to Congratulate Your Majesties happy Accession to the Throne of your Royal Anceſtors; as alſo to expreſs our great Satisfaction and unſpeakable Joy for the ſame, and to thank God for preſerving and quietly ſeating on the Imperial Throne of theſe Realms a Princeſs with Heart and Affections truly Engliſh, with a Zeal for the Government in Church and State as by Law Establiſhed, truly worthy of that Royal Blood that flows to you from your Royal Grandfather King Charles the Martyr, of Immortal Memory, and with a Soul truly Great and Heroine, juſtly concerned for the Proſperity of theſe Realms, and the Peace of Europe.

   1702 April 28, the Borough of Great Torrington, “To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty”, in The London Gazette, number 3810, London: […] Edw[ard] Jones […], published 14–18 May 1702, page [2], columns 1–2

   I had once more prevailed on Mrs. Eſten to try her York friends; ſhe rather wiſhed to avoid the hazard, as ſhe rightly judged ſhe had been treated ſo very negligently, after a profuſion of praiſe and promiſe; however from my ſolicitation ſhe did break through her heroine reſolution, and once more on her return from Scotland ventured her little bark to the generoſity and pleaſure of her profeſſed friends at York.

   1795, Tate Wilkinson, The Wandering Patentee; or, A History of the Yorkshire Theatres, from 1770 to the Present Time: Interspersed with Anecdotes Respecting Most of the Performers in the Three Kingdoms, from 1765 to 1795. […], volume III, York: […] [F]or the Author, by Wilson, Spence, and Mawman: Sold by G[eorge,] G[eorge] & J[ohn] Robinson, […], page 264

   Synonyms: heroinely, heroinic

1. obsoleteuncountableObsolete spelling of heroin.

   […] 1,451 ounces of heroine hydrochloride, and 19 ounces of codeine — the equivalent of 16,273 pounds of opium.

   1925, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, page 179

   1 more example

   No manufacture of heroine is lawful in the United States of America, but it is permitted in some countries under the same conditions as for other narcotics under international control.

   1952, Bulletin on Narcotics, volumes 4-6, page 27