mistress

plural mistresses · alternative obsolete mistris

1. A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership.

   She was the mistress of the estate-mansion, and owned the horses.

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   At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 307

   Synonyms: boss, head, leader

2. A female head of household.

   In came the boy from over the way, who was suspected of not having board enough from his master; trying to hide himself behind the girl from next door but one, who was proved to have had her ears pulled by her Mistress.

   1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 59

3. A female teacher.

   games mistress

   Synonyms: schoolmarm

4. The other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations.

   “But soon his wrath being o’er, he took / “Another mistress, or new book:

   1819, Lord Byron, Mazeppa, a Poem, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 11

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   Count Krivtsov was considered a hopeless case by everyone, and yet he kept two mistresses.

   1901 [1878], chapter 20, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 7

   Synonyms: bit on the side, fancy woman, comaré, goomah

5. A dominatrix.

   As part of BDSM play they can enhance the domineering tread of a mistress or hobble the steps of a slave.

   2006, Amelia May Kingston, The Triumph of Hope, page 376

6. A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it.

   A letter desires all young wives to make themselves mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic.

   1711 June 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, June 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 92; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

7. A woman regarded with love and devotion; a sweetheart.

   he could not forbear putting his horse out of the way , and rode with his mistress behind him round about it

   1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater

8. ScotlandA married woman; a wife.

   Several of the neighbouring mistresses […] had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening.

   1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

9. archaicA respectful mode of address to a woman.
10. obsoleteThe jack in the game of bowls.

    Faith, keep a bachelor still, and go to bowls, sir, Follow your mistress there, and prick and save, sir; For other mistresses will make you a slave, sir

    c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

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    She took a bowl, drew up her skirt with her left hand, and rolled the weighted ball with a deft motion. It lightly kissed the mistress and stopped a few inches away.

    2001, Paul Hemenway Altrocchi, Most Greatly Lived

11. A female companion to a master (a man with control, authority or ownership).
12. feminineFemale equivalent of master.
13. feminineFemale equivalent of mister.

present singular third person mistresses · participle present mistressing · participle past mistressed · past mistressed · alternative obsolete mistris

1. raretransitiveOf a woman: to master; to learn or develop to a high degree of proficiency.

   These films give a glimpse of women on the way to mistressing their own destiny.

   2013, Andrea Khalil, North African Cinema in a Global Context: Through the Lens of Diaspora

2. intransitiveTo act or take the role of a mistress.

   […] housewifery, maternity, charity, the life conventual, the chatter of a court, the mistressing of a great house […]

   1905, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, Maid Margaret of Galloway

plural Mistresses

1. archaicUsed as the title of a married woman before her name. Now used only in the abbreviated form Mrs.

   The sound of Mistress Affery cautiously chaining the door before she opened it, caused them both to look that way.

   1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “The Dreams of Mrs. Flintwinch Thicken”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, 2nd book (Riches), page 408

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   Mistress Cordelia Carfax shivered and gathered her silk shawl about her shoulders. […] Any shows of affection Mistress Carfax did display were usually reserved for her pedigree pug.

   2014, Tessa Harris, chapter 5, in The Lazarus Curse (A Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mystery; 4), New York, N.Y.: Kensington Books, →ISBN, page 25

2. BDSMUsed as the title of a female dominant.