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Glite Dictionary
Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane

1 8.2
A woman of the American West famous for shooting skills and a bold life
  • proper noun
  • /kəˈlæmɪti dʒeɪn/
: Calamity Jane
  • Throughout her life, Calamity Jane was celebrated as a folk hero alongside Wild Bill Hickok.

Examples

Synonyms

Martha Jane Burke
vsCalamity Jane
9.0

An American woman of the Wild West called Calamity Jane who is famous for her shooting skill and wild adventures

is the identical personal name form used instead of the other name

Surface Forms

Calamity Jane main

Morphology

Calamity + Jane

This is a proper name/nickname referring to a specific historical person; the biographical sense (frontierswoman, folk hero, markswoman) is not derivable from the literal words. A B1 learner who knows 'calamity' and 'Jane' might guess a woman associated with disaster, but would not be able to infer the person’s identity or the cultural/biographical meaning, so the expression is opaque.

Etymology

Calamity Jane may get her nickname from the word calamity, which means a big 'disaster'. One popular story says she often went to help sick or injured people after accidents in the Wild West, and that image of Jane at scenes of trouble is why she became a remembered 'folk hero'.