Meanings
plural divineresses
- archaicA female diviner.
The mad Divineress had plainly writ, A time shou'd come (but many ages yet,) In which, sinister destinies ordain
1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC1 more example
Altogether, with her snowy raiment and white flesh and passionless face, she seems rather a beautiful living statue than a Japanese maiden. And all the while the weird flutes sob and shrill, and the muttering of the drums is like an incantation. What I have seen is called the Dance of the Miko, the Divineress.
1894, Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, series 1
Origin
- Middle Englishdivyneresse
- Englishdivineress
From Middle English divyneresse, devyneresse, dyvyneresse, dyveneras, dyvenourese; equivalent to diviner + -ess.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
divineress. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/divineress
“divineress.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/divineress. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “divineress,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/divineress.
Source: divineress on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.