Woman who schemes to gain social position, wealth, etc., by equivocal and unscrupulous means. See playgirl for synonyms.
Quotes:
(1) Charlie Pike (Henry Fonda) and Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) in The Lady Eve (1941): -- Charlie: ' Are you an adventuress? ' -- Jean: ' Of course I am. All women are. They have to be. If you waited for a man to propose to you from natural courses, you'd die of old maidenhood.'
(2) Geraldine Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) leaving her husband Tom (Joel McCrea) in The Palm Beach Story (1942): -- Gerry: ' I may not get married again. I might become an adventuress.' -- Tom: ' I can just see you starting for China on a twenty-six foot sailboat.' -- Gerry: ' You're thinking of an adventurer, dear. An adventuress never goes on anything under three hundred feet with a crew of eighty.'