Etymology

ogress

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Today it means: A female ogre. Full definition →

French ogresse
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ogress · noun1

  1. French · borrowed fromogresse
  2. English todayogress

Borrowed in the early 1700s from French ogresse, equivalent to ogre + -ess. Piecewise doublet of orcess.

ogress · noun2

Uncertain. Attested in this form since 1572. The French term ogoesse is only attested later (1611 in an English dictionary, 1690 in a French dictionary) and may be derived from English. The 1486 Book of Coat Armour in the Book of St. Albans says "gonestonys" are called "oglys" in heraldic blazon; perhaps someone in the 1500s misread ogles as ogres(s) and mistook the plural for a singular, compare the use of pommeis (“roundel(s) vert”) as a singular. The form agresses is found in some 18th century works, alongside ogresses.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.