Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun In Arthurian legend, a woman who died of unrequited love of Lancelot.
  • noun In Arthurian legend, the mother of Galahad by Lancelot.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) Same as olein.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A female given name.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French Elaine variant of Elene, cognate to Modern English Helen, ultimately from Ancient Greek. A Celtic origin has also been suggested since the name appears in Arthurian legend.

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