missus

plural missuses · alternative missis

1. AustraliaNew ZealandUKcolloquialWife or girlfriend.

   The missus has a list of chores for me to do this weekend.

   4 more examples

   Harry said he couldn't stop and chat because his missus wanted to go shopping.

   I thought there might be trouble with the missus if I engaged a one-time murderer as nursemaid.

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 208

   Sometimes I find myself sitting back and reminiscing / Especially when I have to watch other people kissing / And I remember when you started calling me your missus / All the play fighting, all the flirtatious disses

   2006, “Littlest Things”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen

   Imagine you have driven past a restaurant and thought to yourself, 'That would be a nice place to take the missus for an evening out,' and in no time at all you have found yourself flicking through the Yellow Pages in search of the phonenumber.

   2013, Jeff Jenkins, Watching The World, Andrews UK Limited, →ISBN

2. AustraliaNew ZealandUKcolloquialTerm of address for a woman.

   'Scuse me missus, but your petticoat's showing.

   1 more example

   Look ere Missus! Little Joey's me bruvva. E stays wiv me. We aint goin ter be split up.

   2013, C. S. Peters, On a Wing and a Prayer, page 161

plural Missuses · alternative Missis

1. informalMrs, a form of address for a married woman.

   She [Mary] next went into service on a farm at Welcombe; there was the Boss, the Missus, two young children and Mary, the only servant.

   1985, Mary Bouquet, Family, Servants and Visitors: The Farm Household in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Devon, Norwich, Norfolk: Geo Books, →ISBN, page 77