From Middle English maistresse, from Old French maistresse (whence French maîtresse), feminine of maistre ("master"). By surface analysis, mist(e)r + -ess.

Pronunciation[edit]

enPR: mĭsʹtrĭs, IPA(key): /ˈmɪstɹɪs/Audio (US)(file)


Noun[edit]

mistress (plural mistresses)

1. A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership Synonyms: (applicable to either sex) boss, (applicable to either sex) head, (applicable to either sex) leader male equivalent: master

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


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

2. A female teacher Synonym: schoolmarm male equivalent: master games mistress

3. The other woman in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations Synonyms: (applicable to either sex) bit on the side, fancy woman, comaré, goomah; see also Thesaurus:mistress Antonyms: cicisbeo, fancy man

4. A dominatrix male equivalent: master

2006, Amelia May Kingston, The Triumph of Hope, page 376:As part of BDSM play they can enhance the domineering tread of a mistress or hobble the steps of a slave.

5. A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it 1711 June 26 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], "FRIDAY, 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:

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

6. a woman regarded with love and devotion; a sweetheart 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 Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:he could not forbear putting his horse out of the way , and rode with his mistress behind him round about it

(Scotland) A married woman; a wife 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:Several of the neighbouring mistresses […] had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening.

(obsolete) The jack in the game of bowls 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):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

2001, Paul Hemenway Altrocchi, Most Greatly Lived:She took a bowl, drew up her skirt with her left hand, FemdomWatch Femdom Porn 2023 Online and rolled the weighted ball with a deft motion. It lightly kissed the mistress and stopped a few inches away.