Meanings
missis1
plural missises
- UScolloquialhistoricalpronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of missus, representing African-American Vernacular English.
1878, quoted 2001, from a song by James Bland, an African American songwriter for minstrel shows, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny", The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: North America. Garland Publishing. Ellen Koskoff (Ed.). p. 192. Massa and missis have lone gone before me.
- UKalternativecolloquialpronunciation spellingAlternative spelling or pronunciation spelling of missus.
A man said he'd give me five pounds if I'd paint him and his missis and the dog and the cottage.
1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Passion”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 341
Missis2
plural Missises
- pronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of Missus.
Anne took up her embroidery till she was called to the table, and was gossiping with Mrs. Ford about the Lascelles family, when Towser burst suddenly into the room, crying out,—“Come, Missis, bustle about! here comes Master George, bringing in the Duke to breakfast![…]”
1849, [Ellen Wallace], chapter XII, in King’s Cope. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 2332 more examples
“Home you go!” Miss Kane, nodding, in her white nurse’s dress, stood for a moment—she would catch a breath of air—in the hospital door; “and thank you again for the stockings, you needn’t have bothered”—drew a sharp breath and turning, dismissed Missis Flinders from the hospital, smiling, dismissed her forever from her mind.
1932 December, Tess Slesinger, “Missis Flinders”, in Whit Burnett, Martha Foley, editors, Story, volume II, number 10, Palma, Majorca, →OCLC, page 3The two mothers were known simply as “Missis” in each other’s households. When someone in the Pope family spoke of a Missis, they knew that it referred to Mrs. Cervik—never anyone else. The same was true in the Cervik house. Missis was always and only Mrs. Pope. […] “Missis, let’s go take a look around Paul’s yard,” Mrs. Pope suggested. […] The two Missises could be heard talking with each other in Slovak some distance ahead.
2014, J. Victor Adamec, “The Lord’s Day After: Sunday, June 28”, in Heir Non-Apparent: A Novel Based on the 2002 Dinner Mystery of the Same Name, Akron, Oh.: 48HrBooks for Ochran Publishers, →ISBN, pages 228, 229, and 243
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
missis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/missis
“missis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/missis. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “missis,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/missis.
Source: missis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.