protectress

[ proh-tek-tris ]

noun

1. a woman who guards or defends someone or something; protector.

Gender Note

See -ess.

Word History and Origins

Origin of protectress¹

First recorded in 1560–70; protect(o)r + -ess

Example Sentences

“What about the women?” she asked the professor, whereupon Campbell explained that the women were the hero’s mother, his protectress and the prize at the end of his quest.

From New York Times

The most urgent painting here is one of the Met’s very first purchases: Anthony van Dyck’s “Saint Rosalia,” vanquisher of a 17th-century epidemic, whom I’ve adopted as my Covid protectress.

From New York Times

Like a good huntsman, she was careful to preserve the young; she was “the protectress of dewy youth” everywhere.

From Literature

At the onset of the Trojan War, for example, the Greek goddess Artemis, protectress of wild animals, the wilderness, and the moon, stilled the winds needed to propel the Greek fleet to Troy because Agamemnon, its commander, had killed a sacred deer.

From Salon

Van Dyck — meeting the new demand, and not a little grateful himself — takes a half-finished self-portrait, slathers it with primer and paints the new protectress, floating gloriously over the illness-ravaged port town.

From New York Times