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eldress

American  
[el-dris] / ˈɛl drɪs /

noun

  1. a laywoman who is a governing officer in certain Protestant churches.

Gender

See -ess.

Etymology

Origin of eldress

First recorded in 1630–40; elder 1 + -ess

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Narrations of texts by Rebecca Cox Jackson, a 19th-century Black Shaker eldress, and words and music by Alice Coltrane are crucial to the weave.

From New York Times • Sep. 3, 2020

Then the eldress sat down and an elder arose, who bade the young people come forward to the centre of the line, where the elders and eldresses were sitting.

From Through the Eye of the Needle A Romance by Howells, William Dean

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.