rectoress

English

Etymology

From rector +‎ -ess.

Noun

rectoress (plural rectoresses)

1. A governess; a rectrix.
   • 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:

     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; […]

2. The wife of a rector.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     In this way the worthy Rectoress consoled herself : and her daughters sighed, and sate over the Peerage all night

Alternative forms

• rectress

Further reading

• “rectoress”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• crosstree, retrocess, secretors