prima donna

prima donna

1. The lead female singer in an opera company. This Italian phrase means "first lady." With her voice, I'm sure that Shirley will be named the opera company's prima donna.
2. One who is very demanding and temperamental. Kathleen is such a prima donna—there's just no pleasing her.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

(a) ˌprima ˈdonna

(from Italian, disapproving) a person who thinks they are very important because they are good at something, and who behaves badly when they do not get what they want: Stop behaving like a prima donna — you’re not the only person around here. In her new film, Victoria plays a prima donna television presenter.
The prima donna is the main woman singer in an opera performance or an opera company. The phrase means ‘first lady’.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • from the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step
  • fo sho
  • fosho
  • (as) sure as eggs (is eggs)
  • lead by the nose, to
  • get a toehold
  • command performance
  • beck and call
  • caught up in (something)
  • a penny for them
References in periodicals archive
Prima Donna is aged until it reaches the pinnacle of flavour.
Prima Donna maturo 'Best European Cheese'
Just as singers tried to escape the ideological "dirt"--to borrow Currie's words--and substitute a more positive image, so too do we, as scholars, seek to cleanse the prima donna's tainted image, separating fact from fantasy, reality from myth.
The Arts of the Prima Donna in the Lone Nineteenth Century
"Being a prima donna in the 19th century - a leading star in operatic circles - was an extraordinary licence for women to assume," Prof Cowgill said.
DIVA IS FOREVER! Female opera icons from 200 years ago original 'bad girls'
Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna opened at the Palace Theatre in Manchester last week.
Songwriter Rufus strikes right note; Music star at school
The temperament of the prima donna frequently mirrored those of the characters she personified, usually classical goddesses or historic characters whose life stories were epic dramas with emotional peaks that rivalled Everest.
Are these chart stars really divas?
And if you already have a prima donna you want to get rid of?
Sales prima donnas? Alon Toker knows how to avoid hiring them
* You must hold your prima donna or "prima don" to the same standards as the rest of the team.
The prima donna syndrome
Like a prima donna making a triumphant entrance, the cow walks confidently to the water's edge, seeming to nod to the departing doe as if to send her packing.
Dance of the whitetails
Young actress Gabbi Garcia on being tagged a 'prima donna' for allegedly refusing to let a group of dancers ride with her in a van going to Manila, after an out-of-town gig: 'It was a misunderstanding I won't deny that I cried over this issue-I was crying for two nights.
Gabbi Garcia: I'm no prima donna
Prima Donna leggero is the light variety in the Prima Donna family and contains only 17.5 percent fat content (30 percent of the cheese).
Prima Donna leggero even tastier
IT debuted the play in London and now Catfish Theatre is heading to Liverpool's Lantern Theatre to present The Bald Prima Donna here.
Preview; THE BALD PRIMA DONNA Lantern Theatre, Liverpool
One was A Resounding Tinkle by NF Simpson and the other was Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Prima Donna.
School cutting it for 25 years at Fringe festival; YOUR schools
On the eve of their Group Nine crunch in Skopje Macedonia's star man Goran Pandev is furious after being branded a lazy prima donna by veteran Norway boss Egil Olsen.
PANDEV IN RAGE AT OLSEN
But be warned, this is a concept production; the basic premise is that the Prima Donna is in love with the Composer who, distraught by the turn of events surrounding the premiere of his opear, has committed suicide.
Ariadne auf naxos
The truth is you're a petulant prima donna Francesco.
WORLD OF FOOTBALL: Totti's spit for tat