Dictionary

governoress en · NOUN

Etymology

Originally from Middle English governeresse, from Old French governeresse. In this form (with -o-; unlike governeress, governer seems to have never been more common than the -o- form) and later uses, directly from governor + -ess.

Meanings

1. (nonstandard) A woman employed to educate children in private households.
   • It took a firm governoress, boarding school and a finishing school to get rid of the rough edges — and, by her late teens, the young Princess [Alexandra] was emerging as a beautiful and serene woman. 1986 December 24, “From little terror to Princess Perfect . . .”, in Western Evening Herald, number 31,478, Plymouth, page 29, column 2:
   • How are the following nouns improperly formed, and what should they be? viz.—Lifes, knifes, dwarves, mischieves—boxs, churchs, dishs, fishs—enemys, flys, skys, spys—louses, mouses, oxes, pennys—arcanums, datums, erratums, phænomenons—bacheloress, benefactoress, governoress—boys books, girls dolls, childs rattle—diligence sake; Jane’s, Margaret’s, and Isabella’s mother; John’s, Peter’s, and Frank’s books. [1826, Peter Smith, An Analytical System of English Grammar; […], Edinburgh: […] Oliver & Boyd, […]; and Geo[rge] B[yrom] Whittaker, London, page 17:
   • […] when the hospital established in London for sick governoresses was about to fail for want of proper management, she stepped forward and consented to be placed at its head. Derbyshire and Hampshire were exchanged for the narrow, dreary establishment in Harley street, to which she devoted all her time and fortune. While her friends missed her at assemblies, lectures, concerts, exhibitions and all the entertainments for taste and intellect with which London in its season abounds, she whose powers could have best appreciated these, was sitting beside the bed and soothing the last complaints of some poor, dying, homeless, querulous governess. 1855 January 4, “Who Is Mrs. Nightingale”, in D. P. Thompson, editor, Green Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, Vt., front page, column 6:
2. (dated) A female governor.
   • Our modern governors (even the current governoress) do not deserve to be belittled as some sort of “gubers.” 1997 December 14, Frank G. Logan, “‘Gubernatorial’ is a wacky thing to call a governor”, in Home News Tribune, page I1, column 4:
   • I was introduced by Mrs. Onward, the Governoress, to Mrs. Sapient, the Speakeress of the House. 1869 February 25, Redpath [pseudonym], “Redpath Visits the State Capital. a. d. 1900.”, in Iron County Register, volume II, number 29, Ironton, Mo., page [3], column 2:
   • The liberals in control now are just doing what they want. Let’s get things going and separate the states and maybe northern California might like to jump in also. We don’t even have a legal “governoress,” she just thinks she is. 2005 May 30, Orman Arnold, “New dividing line: An enthusiast”, in Tri-City Herald, page A12, column 4:
3. (dated) The wife of a governor.
   • That reminds me—my old mother in law was here with the Governor and Governoress of Gambia [Southorns] the other day. 1936 July 29, Virginia Woolf, “3157: To Jane Bussy”, in Nigel Nicolson, Joanne Trautmann, editors, Leave the Letters Till We’re Dead: The Letters of Virginia Woolf, volumes VI (1936–1941), London: The Hogarth Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 60:
   • Colonel Braddyll, soon after his marriage, was chosen governor of ⸺, in India, and Mrs. Braddyll, as governoress, or governor’s lady, was in the height of her glory. 1820, chapter V, in De Clifford; or, Passion more Powerful than Reason. […], volume I, London: […] [T]he Minerva Press for A[nthony] K[ing] Newman and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 164–165:
   • “We have strong ties to all,” said Governoress [Adele Khoury] Graham. 1980 October 24, Tom McEwen, “M-A Is Back In Stride In Win Circle”, in The Tampa Tribune, 86th year, number 256, Tampa, Fla., page 1-C, column 1:

Forms

Synonyms

gubernatrix · governess · governess · governess