Dictionary

rectoress en · NOUN

Etymology

From rector + -ess.

Meanings

1. A governess; a rectrix.
   • Diſſembling griefe, as one that knevv not ill, / So can ſhe rule the greatneſſe of her mind, / As a moſt perfect Rectoreſſe of her vvill, / Aboue the vſuall vveakneſſe of her kind; […] 1605, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The First Booke of the Barrons Warres”, in Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC, stanza 35, page 13:
2. The wife of a rector.
   • In this way the worthy Rectoress consoled herself : and her daughters sighed, and sate over the Peerage all night 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

Forms