Adjacent Words

Mistress definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MIS'TRESS, n. [L. magistra.]
1. A woman who governs; correlative to servant, slave, or subject.
My mistress here lies murdered in her bed.
2. The female head of a family.
3. That which governs; a sovereign. Rome was mistress of the world.
4. One that commands, or has possession and sovereignty. The queen is mistress of the Indies.
5. A female who is well skilled in any thing; as, she is mistress of arithmetic.
6. A woman teacher; an instructress of a school.
7. A woman beloved and courted.
8. A woman in keeping for lewd purposes.
9. A term of contemptuous address.
MIS'TRESS, v.t. To wait upon a mistress; to be courting.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man [syn: mistress, kept woman, fancy woman]
2: a woman schoolteacher (especially one regarded as strict) [syn: schoolmarm, schoolma'am, schoolmistress, mistress]
3: a woman master who directs the work of others

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English maistresse, from Anglo-French mestresse, feminine of mestre master — more at master Date: 14th century 1. a woman who has power, authority, or ownership: as a. the female head of a household b. a woman who employs or supervises servants c. a woman who is in charge of a school or other establishment d. a woman of the Scottish nobility having a status comparable to that of a master 2. a. chiefly British a female teacher or tutor b. a woman who has achieved mastery in some field 3. something personified as female that rules, directs, or dominates <when Rome was mistress of the world> 4. a. a woman other than his wife with whom a married man has a continuing sexual relationship b. archaic sweetheart 5. a. — used archaically as a title prefixed to the name of a married or unmarried woman b. chiefly Southern & Midland Mrs. 1a

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a female head of a household. 2 a a woman in authority over others. b the female owner of a pet. 3 a woman with power to control etc. (often foll. by of: mistress of the situation). 4 Brit. a a female teacher (music mistress). b a female head of a college etc. 5 a a woman (other than his wife) with whom a married man has a (usu. prolonged) sexual relationship. b archaic or poet. a woman loved and courted by a man. 6 archaic or dial. (as a title) = MRS. Phrases and idioms: Mistress of the Robes a lady in charge of the Queen's wardrobe. Etymology: ME f. OF maistresse f. maistre MASTER

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mistress Mis"tress, v. i. To wait upon a mistress; to be courting. [Obs.] --Donne.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mistress Mis"tress, n. [OE. maistress, OF. maistresse, F. ma[^i]tresse, LL. magistrissa, for L. magistra, fem. of magister. See Master, Mister, and cf. Miss a young woman.] 1. A woman having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc. The late queen's gentlewoman! a knight's daughter! To be her mistress' mistress! --Shak. 2. A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it. A letter desires all young wives to make themselves mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic. --Addison. 3. A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart. [Poetic] --Clarendon. 4. A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a loose woman with whom one consorts habitually. --Spectator. 5. A title of courtesy formerly prefixed to the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman. Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul). --Cowper. 6. A married woman; a wife. [Scot.] Several of the neighboring mistresses had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening. --Sir W. Scott. 7. The old name of the jack at bowls. --Beau. & Fl. To be one's own mistress, to be exempt from control by another person.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mistresses) 1. A married man's mistress is a woman who is not his wife and with whom he is having a sexual relationship. (OLD-FASHIONED) She was his mistress for three years... N-COUNT: usu with poss 2. A dog's mistress is the woman or girl who owns it. The huge wolfhound danced in circles around his mistress. N-COUNT: usu poss N

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mis'-tres (ba`alah, gebhereth): Is the translation of ba`alah, "lady," "owner" (1Ki 17:17; Na 3:4); in 1Sa 28:7, "a woman that hath a familiar spirit" is literally, "the mistress of a familiar spirit"; of gebhereth (Ge 16:4,8,9; 2Ki 5:3; Ps 123:2; Pr 30:23; Isa 24:2); in Isa 47:5,7, we have the King James Version and the English Revised Version "lady," the American Standard Revised Version "mistress."

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Female head, female sovereign, governess. 2. Instructress, female teacher, dame, governess. 3. Sweetheart, flame. 4. Concubine, paramour. 5. Goodwife, matron, madam.

Moby Thesaurus

Dulcinea, abbess, beneficiary, best girl, cestui, cestui que trust, cestui que use, chatelaine, concubine, dame, deedholder, dowager, doxy, dream girl, duenna, educatress, feoffee, feudatory, first lady, gill, girl, girl friend, goodwife, governess, great lady, headmistress, homemaker, householder, housewife, inamorata, instructress, jill, jo, kept mistress, kept woman, lady, lady love, laird, landlady, landlord, lass, lassie, lord, lover, madam, master, matriarch, matron, mesne, mesne lord, mother superior, odalisque, old lady, owner, paramour, playmate, proprietary, proprietor, proprietress, proprietrix, rentier, schooldame, schoolmarm, schoolmistress, squire, titleholder, tutoress, unofficial wife, woman

Moby Thesaurus

Frau, Fraulein, Miss, Mlle, Mme, Mmes, dame, dona, donna, lady, madam, madame, mademoiselle, mem-sahib, mesdames, senhora, senhorita, signora, signorina, vrouw