schoolmistress

[ skool-mis-tris ]

noun

1. a woman who presides over or teaches in a school.

schoolmistress

/ ˈskuːlˌmɪstrɪs /

noun

1. a woman who teaches in or runs a school

Gender Note

See -ess.

Derived Forms

• ˈschoolˌmistressy, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of schoolmistress¹

First recorded in 1490–1500; school ¹ + mistress

Example Sentences

According to the FBI, “The Schoolmistress” was taken from Earl Wood’s house by three men working at the direction of former New Jersey state Sen. Anthony Imperiale.

From Seattle Times

“I didn’t want her to look like a grump schoolmistress,” Atwood said.

From Los Angeles Times

Dynamic, too, was Nicole Car as the widowed schoolmistress with hopeless belief in Grimes’s salvation.

From New York Times

I was a lusus naturæ, she affirmed, as a village schoolmistress: she was sure my previous history, if known, would make a delightful romance.

From Literature

“Well, whatever my sufferings had been, they were very short,” I answered: and then I proceeded to tell him how I had been received at Moor House; how I had obtained the office of schoolmistress, &c.

From Literature