Mistress Meaning
/ˈmɪs.tɹɪs/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership.
nounA female head of household.
Sentence Examples
Between ourselves, he keeps a mistress.
He met his mistress during a country escapade.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The grand estate had a ____ who managed all the household affairs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The grand old mansion was ruled by a stern ____ who insisted that everything should be perfectly clean and in its proper place.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂-der.? Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-der.? Proto-Italic *magisteros Latin magister, magistrum Old French maistre Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa)bor. Latin -issader. Old French -esse Old French maistressebor. Middle English maistresse English mistress From Middle English maistresse, from Old French maistresse (whence French maîtresse), feminine of maistre (“master”). By surface analysis, mist(e)r + -ess.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The grand estate had a ____ who managed all the household affairs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The grand old mansion was ruled by a stern ____ who insisted that everything should be perfectly clean and in its proper place.