1. female slaves or concubines in a Turkish harem
Usage: historical; plural form
2. reclining female figures as depicted in orientalist paintings
Usage: art history

Examples

• The museum’s collection included several 19th-century paintings of odalisques.
• Ingres was famous for his romanticized portraits of odalisques.
• The orientalist artists often depicted odalisques in luxurious settings.
• Historical accounts describe the lives of odalisques in Ottoman palaces.
• The painting showed odalisques lounging in an ornate chamber.
• Art critics have debated the representation of odalisques in European art.