1. a female slave or concubine in a Turkish harem
Usage: historical
2. a reclining female figure as depicted in orientalist art
Usage: art

Examples

• The museum’s collection includes several 19th-century paintings of odalisques.
• Ingres painted his famous odalisque in 1814.
• The artist’s odalisque reclines on silk cushions in an ornate setting.
• Historical accounts describe the lives of odalisques in Ottoman palaces.
• The orientalist painting featured an odalisque surrounded by luxurious fabrics.
• Art historians study how Western artists portrayed the odalisque figure.