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the name of a woman, married or unmarried, but now superseded by the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.
Mis"tress, v. i. To wait upon a
mistress; to be courting. [Obs.] Donne.
