headmistressly

comparative more headmistressly · superlative most headmistressly

1. Befitting a headmistress.

   Sarah’s half-moon reading spectacles gave her a headmistressly air, ‘. . . eyes of blue and very nice too.[…]’

   1991, Kate Fenton, Lions and Liquorice, Bath: Chivers Press; Thorndike, Me.: Thorndike Press, published 1996, →ISBN, page 354

   2 more examples

   They’d split a salad and even that they’d be careful not to finish: “We’ll each leave a leaf,” Edwige would whisper, tucking in her chin in a headmistressly way and looking at her friend over the tops of nonexistent glasses.

   1985, Edmund White, Caracole, New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton, →ISBN, page 197

   ‘Now,’ said the head in her most headmistressly voice, ‘I have just had some very exciting news. This is Miss McCarthy from the Highthorn Academy. She heard Jazeera play and she was very impressed.’

   1994, Lisa Bruce, Nani’s Holiday, Methuen Children’s Books, →ISBN, pages 18–19

   Synonyms: headmistressy