Mis"tress , v. i. To wait upon a mistress; to be courting. [Obs.]
Donne.
Mis"tress (?), n. [OE.
maistress, OF.
maistresse, F. maîtresse, LL. magistrissa, for L. magistra, fem. of magister. See Master, Mister, and cf. Miss a young woman.]
1. A woman
having power, authority, or ownership; a woman who exercises authority, is chief, etc.; the female head of a family, a school, etc.
The late queen's gentlewoman! a knight's daughter!
To be her mistress' mistress!
Shak.
2. A woman well skilled in anything, or having the mastery over it.
A letter desires all young wives to make themselves mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic.
Addison.
3. A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart. [Poetic]
Clarendon.
4.
A woman filling the place, but without the rights, of a wife; a concubine; a loose woman
with whom one consorts habitually. Spectator.
5. A title of courtesy formerly prefixed
to the name
of a woman,
married or unmarried, but now superseded by the contracted forms, Mrs., for a
married, and Miss, for an unmarried, woman.
Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul).
Cowper. 6. A married woman; a wife. [Scot.]
Several of the neighboring
mistresses had assembled to
witness the event of this
memorable evening.
Sir W. Scott. 7. The old name
of the jack
at bowls. Beau. & Fl.
To be one's own mistress, to be exempt
from control by another person.
Hear it pronounced