• Mistress

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: mÄ­sʹtrÄ­s, IPA: /ˈmɪstrɪs/

    Origin

    From Middle English and Old French maistresse (French: maîtresse), feminine of maistre ("master").

    Full definition of mistress

    Noun

    mistress

    (plural mistresses)
    1. A woman, specifically one with great control, authority or ownership.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 19, At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.
    2. She was the mistress of the estate-mansion, and owned the horses.
    3. A female teacher.
      games mistress
    4. A female partner in an extramarital relationship, generally including sexual relations.
    5. A dominatrix.
      • 2006, Amelia May Kingston, The Triumph of Hope (page 376)As part of BDSM play they can enhance the domineering tread of a mistress or hobble the steps of a slave.
    6. A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it.
      • AddisonA letter desires all young wives to make themselves mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic.
    7. A woman regarded with love and devotion; a sweetheart.
    8. (Scotland) A married woman; a wife.
      • Sir Walter ScottSeveral of the neighbouring mistresses had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening.
    9. (obsolete) The jack in the game of bowls.
    10. female companion to a master (a man with control, authority or ownership)
    11. Feminine of master

    Usage notes

    In the sexual sense, mistress is narrowly taken to mean a woman involved in a committed extramarital relationship (an affair), often supported financially (a kept woman). It is broadly taken to mean a woman involved in an extramarital relationship regardless of the level of commitment, but requires more than a single act of adultery.

    Tiger Woods Does Not Have 11 “Mistresses”: His many paramours aren’t committed enough to merit that term. by Jesse Sheidlower, Slate.com, Dec. 10, 2009.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Male equivalents:

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from mistress
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