ladiness

alternative ladyness

1. uncountableThe quality of being a lady.

   “Ladiness” is grounded in a rather rigid code of behavior that varies only slightly according to ethnic or cultural values.

   1990, Claudia Bepko, Jo Ann Krestan, Too Good for Her Own Good: Breaking Free from the Burden of Female Responsibility, page 18

   2 more examples

   Mother believed round garters cut off the circulation and caused varicose veins, so she kept me in a pantywaist several years longer than most boys. Nobody knew this except me and Mother, and I was particularly careful to keep it a secret because there was a touch of ladiness to a waist after a boy got about so big.

   1966, John Gould, Last One In: Tales of a New England Boyhood, a Gently Pleasing Dip into a Cool, Soothing Pool of the Not-So-Long-Ago, So to Speak, page 153

   Two, Mother and aunt Wheezie were equally as passionate that I should become a lady. Becoming a lady was such hard work I hated it. I couldn’t fathom why any girl would want to be one. Furthermore, I clearly understood at the ripe old age of eight that Mother and Wheezie often strayed from the path of ladiness.

   1997, Albemarle