1. A
woman having strength, 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 create 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.
4. A
woman filling the seat,
but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a
loose woman with whom one consorts habitually.
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but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs, for a married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman.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. "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. To be one's
own mistress, to be exempt from
control by other person.
Origin: OE. Maistress, OF. Maistresse, F. Maitresse, LL. Magistrissa, for L. Magistra, fem. Of magister. See Master, Mister, and cf. Miss a
young woman.
Source: Websters Vocabulary