harem
- noun
- /ˈhɛrəm/
- I'm the den mother for a Sheik's harem-- you know, making sure they don't escape-- with a side business waxing 'em and stuff.
- harem of women
- large harem
- harem system
Louise Perry calls them digital harems when it comes to online dating.
- Louise Perry calls them digital harems when it comes to online dating.
- And so then there could have been some opportunity for genes to flow from them into the population while the harem holders were not looking.
- And I think we'll we'll see few, we would see fewer harem like situations for that reason.
- She brings up, for example, the harem slave feels no morbid passion for rose preserves and perfumes bath.
Examples
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There were two sections: a harem, like a walled convent; and a divan, or office and reception building.
Academic text (2010) -
They placed her in the harem of Abimelech their king.
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So, this is where he keeps the harem, then.
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Does the king have a harem?
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Wow, you must have quite some harem.
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She'll make any harem proud.
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A king, a sultan, an emperor has a harem of women.
Academic text (2013) -
Cleopatra and his harem of brides surround him, dancing on the table and frolicking about the room.
Fiction book (1999) -
A bull will gather 20-30 elk cows into his harem during the mating rut season.
Academic text (2009) -
The Sultan's harem included many wives and concubines living within the palace.
Synonyms
A private part of a Muslim household where women live apart from men
Part of a palace, often in the past, where a ruler's wives and female relatives lived
A private part of a Muslim home where women live and men do not enter
A private part of a Muslim household, traditionally where the man's wives and female relatives live separately
Surface Forms
Etymology
Harem comes from the Arabic word haram, which means 'forbidden' or 'sacred', so a harem was the private, off-limits part of a house where wives and female relatives lived.