English

Rodeo Cowgirl by American artist Charles Marion Russell (1864–1926)

Noun

dudess ‎(plural dudesses)

1. A female dude.
   1. (dated) A cowgirl.
      • 1889, Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster and Company, OCLC 12316309:

        Of course that taint, that reverence for rank and title, had been in our American blood, too—I know that; but when I left America it had disappeared—at least to all intents and purposes. The remnant of it was restricted to the dudes and dudesses. When a disease has worked its way down to that level, it may fairly be said to be out of the system.

      • 1947, Collier's, volume 120, New York, N.Y.: P. F. Collier, OCLC 213743208, page 258:

        Marge recently dressed Joanne Dru ranch style during the making of Howard Hawks' Red River. Miss Dru, in old-style calicoes and ginghams, felt grubby beside the dudes and dudesses who galloped over from near-by ranches […]

   2. A woman, generally a younger woman, especially one who is perceived to be cool or hip.
      • 1988, Larry Beinhart, You Get What You Pay For, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, ISBN 978-0-688-06613-0:

        “Sorry, dude,” I said. “Dispatch One, she's gonna call me?” / “Yo, the dudess,” he said, heading out the door.

      • 1997, Ed Dunlop, chapter 10, in “How Do I Get These Kids to Listen?”: Practical Ways to Gain and Hold Attention in the Classroom, Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Sword of the Lord Publishers, ISBN 978-0-87398-392-1, page 181:

        DEALING WITH DEFIANT DUDES (AND DUDESSES) [chapter title]

      • 2007, “Foreword”, in Otto Penzler, editor, Dead Man's Hand, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-15-101277-0:

        Those smart dudes (and dudesses) on ESPN (and virtually every other channel, it seems) winning hundreds of thousands, or even millions, at Texas Hold 'Em, don't become legends because they're lucky, although that is an element of poker, as it is in life, that should never be discounted.

Synonyms

• dudette