MISTRESS

mistress

(noun) a woman master who directs the work of others

mistress, kept woman, fancy woman

(noun) an adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man

schoolmarm, schoolma'am, schoolmistress, mistress

(noun) a woman schoolteacher (especially one regarded as strict)

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

mistress (plural mistresses)

A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership

Synonyms: boss (applicable to either sex), head (applicable to either sex), leader (applicable to either sex)

A female teacher

Synonym: schoolmarm

The other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations

Synonyms: bit on the side (applicable to either sex), fancy woman, comaré, goomah, Thesaurus:mistress

Antonyms: cicisbeo, fancy man

A dominatrix

A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it

a woman regarded with love and devotion; a sweetheart

(Scotland) A married woman; a wife

(obsolete) The jack in the game of bowls

A female companion to a master (a man with control, authority or ownership)

female equivalent of master

female equivalent of mister

Usage notes

In the extramarital sense, mistress is often narrowly taken to mean a woman involved in a committed extramarital relationship (an affair), often supported financially (a kept woman). It can also be broadly taken to mean a woman involved in an extramarital relationship regardless of the level of commitment, but requires more than a single act of adultery.

Verb

mistress (third-person singular simple present mistresses, present participle mistressing, simple past and past participle mistressed)

(transitive, rare) Of a woman: to master; to learn or develop to a high degree of proficiency.

(intransitive) To act or take the role of a mistress.

Noun

Mistress (plural Mistresses)

(archaic) Used as the title of a married woman before her name. Now used only in the abbreviated form Mrs.

Source: Wiktionary

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Mis"tress, n. Etym: [OE. maistress, OF. maistresse, F. maîtresse, 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.

Mis"tress, v. i.

Definition: To wait upon a mistress; to be courting. [Obs.] Donne.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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