Category:Mistress

Mis"tress, n. Etym: [OE. maistress, OF. maistresse, F. maîtresse, LL. magistrissa, for L. magistra, fem. of magister. See Master, Mister, and cf. Miss a young woman.]

1. A woman having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc. The late queen's gentlewoman! a knight's daughter! To be her mistress' mistress! Shak.

2. 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. Addison.

3. A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart. [Poetic] Clarendon.

4. A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a loose woman with whom one consorts habitually. Spectator.

5. A title of courtesy formerly prefixed to the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman. Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul). Cowper.

6. A married woman; a wife. [Scot.] Several of the neighboring mistresses had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening. Sir W. Scott.

7. The old name of the jack at bowls. Beau. & Fl. To be one's own mistress, to be exempt from control by another person.

mistress Mis"tress, v. i.

Defn: To wait upon a mistress; to be courting. [Obs.] Donne.