Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: SCHOOL

Date: 1200-1300
Language: Old French
Origin: maistresse, from maistre; MASTER1

mistress

 noun
     
mis‧tress [countable]
1 a woman that a man has a sexual relationship with, even though he is married to someone else:
The Prince had shocked society by living openly with his mistress.
2 British English old-fashionedSES a female teacher [↪ master]:
the new English mistress
3 the female owner of a dog, horse etc [↪ master]
4 old-fashioned the female employer of a servant [↪ master]:
The maid looked nervously at her mistress.
5

be (a/the) mistress of something

if a woman is a mistress of something, she is in control of it, highly skilled at it etc [↪ master]:
She appeared to be very much the mistress of the situation.
6

Mistress

old use used with a woman's family name as a polite way of speaking to her [↪ master]
Definition of mistress from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic SCHOOL
Word of the Day
The SCHOOL
Word of the Day is:
upperclasswoman

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