Dictionary

deliveress en · NOUN

Etymology

From deliver + -ess.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A female deliverer.
   • Approach, encompassing Death—strong Deliveress! / When it is so—when thou hast taken them, I joyously sing the dead, / Lost in the loving, floating ocean of thee, / Laved in the flood of thy bliss, O Death. 1865 (indicated as 1865–1866), Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps. […] When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d. And Other Pieces, Washington, D.C.: Gibson Brothers, […], →OCLC, canto 16, stanza 21, page 10:
   • Joan d'Arc, armed also like a cavalier, with boots and spurs, her hair dishevelled, as the deliveress of the town from our countrymen, when they besieged it 1644 April 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for April 21 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

Forms