Jessica
Pronunciation
  • enPR: jĕsʹĭkə, IPA: /ˈdʒɛsɪkə/
Proper noun
  1. A female given name; formerly rare, but since the 1970s popular in all English-speaking countries.
    • 1594 William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice: Act V: Scene I:
      Lorenzo: In such a night / Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew, / And with an unthrift love did run from Venice, / As far as Belmont.
      Jessica: In such a night / Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well, / Stealing her soul with many vows of faith, / And ne'er a true one.
      Lorenzo: In such a night / Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, / Slander her love, and he forgave it her.
    • 1996 Tad Williams, The Writer's Child, The Sandman Book of Dreams, HarperCollins, ISBN 0002246325, page 154:
      She will be beautiful, of course - how could our child not be beautiful? We will name her...Jessica. Yes, that's a good name, not one of those lighter-than-air names so popular among writers of romances and fairy tales. That's a name a real little girl might have.
Related terms Translations


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary