Dictionary

dentistess en · NOUN

Etymology

From dentist + -ess.

Meanings

1. (rare) A female dentist.
   • Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Olney are still rejoicing over the late arrival at their home of a little dentist or dentistess. 1886 May 27, “Town and County”, in The Dispatch, fifteenth year, number 12, Clay Center, Kan., page 5, column 3:
   • Does it hurt? / You couldn’t hurt me / Dentistess 1908 March 23, T. E. Powers, “When Women Get Their Rights”, in San Francisco Examiner, volume LXXXVIII, number 83, San Francisco, Calif., page 14:
   • The inhabitants of Gold Bug had never realized that a dentist, or “dentistess,” as Slivers called this one, was so badly needed in the camp. 1906, Dennis H. Stovall, “On and off the Water Wagon”, in The Gold Bug Story Book: Mining Camp Tales by a Western Writer, Denver, Colo.: Reinert Publishing Company, page 37:
   • In the so-called “learned professions” in the United States there are already five hundred and thirty doctresses, sixty-eight preacheresses, and about half a dozen lawyeresses, besides four hundred and twenty dentistesses. 1879 February 5, “Utilizing Natural Force”, in The Cincinnati Daily Star, volume 15, number 31, Cincinnati, Oh., column 2:
   • A Boston dentistess is so pretty that “she could coax a man’s tooth out by just putting her hand under his chin and asking for it. 1883 January 29, “Personal Points”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume XXXI, number 195, St. Louis, Mo., page 4, column 3:
   • A daughter was born to Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Thompson, East Main street, on Monday afternoon. The young “dentistess” has been named Sara Ann. 1925 March 26, “Purely Personal”, in The Brookville American, Brookville, Pa., page seven, column 4:
   • When she had finished her studies she put up a sign which read: “Miss Fanny Pullem, Dentistess.” “As a dentistess she thought that there would not be much difficulty in pulling through. 1888 June 9, “How She Won Him”, in Nemaha County Republican, volume XII, number 37, Sabetha, Kan., column 4:

Forms

Synonyms

dentistress