mistress

Less common meanings

4. 4
   belovednounarchaiccountable

   A woman whom someone loves and is devoted to; a sweetheart.

   The young poet filled a notebook with sonnets to his mistress, praising her eyes and her voice.

   he could not forbear putting his horse out of the way , and rode with his mistress behind him round about it

   Can we date this quote?, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England

   Similarsweetheart, beloved, lady

   Note

   This is the beloved of older love poetry and romance: the woman a poet writes sonnets to, or the lady whose favor a knight wears. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • Older love poetry uses mistress for the beloved woman addressed in a sonnet. en.wikisource.org
   • A knight could wear the favour of his mistress, meaning his lady-love. en.wikisource.org
   • Clarendon describes a rider with 'his mistress behind him' on horseback. en.wiktionary.org
   • The rider is Charles II, disguised as Jane Lane's servant. Mistress here identifies his supposed employer, not his sweetheart. en.wikipedia.org
5. 5
   teachernoundatedUKcountable

   A woman who works as a teacher, often of a particular subject at a school.

   The music mistress held choir practice every Thursday after lunch.

   At her British boarding school, the games mistress made everyone run in the rain.

   UsageUsually with the subject in front: games mistress, music mistress. The male teacher is a master.

   Similarteacher

6. 6
   polite addressnounarchaic

   A respectful way of addressing a woman.

   "Will you take a seat by the fire, mistress?" the innkeeper asked.

   "Forgive me, mistress, but the coach has already left," said the porter.

   Note

   As a form of address this belongs to older English, so a reader meets it now in historical novels and plays, on the lips of innkeepers, porters and servants. Said to a woman today, it would sound like a line from a costume drama. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The respectful form of address belongs to older English. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   great talentnouncountable

   A woman who is highly skilled in something or has complete command of it.

   The novelist was a mistress of suspense, holding readers until the last page.

   Within a year she had made herself mistress of three languages.

   UsageTakes of: a mistress of suspense. Also make oneself mistress of something, as a man makes himself master of it.

   Similarmaster, expert, virtuoso

   Oppositenovice

   Note

   In 1711 Joseph Addison reports a letter urging all young wives to make themselves "mistresses of Wingate's Arithmetic". Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The passage appeared in 1711. gutenberg.org
   • The quoted phrase accurately reproduces the recommendation, with modernized spelling. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verbraretransitive

   Of a woman, to master something: to learn or develop it to a high degree of skill.

   These films give a glimpse of women on the way to mistressing their own destiny.

   2013, Andrea Khalil, North African Cinema in a Global Context: Through the Lens of Diaspora

   Similarmaster, learn

   Note

   The verb is rare and deliberate, a feminine answer to to master. The book North African Cinema in a Global Context speaks of women "on the way to mistressing their own destiny", and the choice of word is part of the point. Since master serves for anyone in ordinary use, mistress as a verb always reads as a conscious choice. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • North African Cinema in a Global Context contains the quoted phrase about women. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   verbintransitive

   To act as a mistress or take on her role, as in running a great house.

   Note

   The verb shows up as a gerund in Samuel Rutherford Crockett's Maid Margaret of Galloway (1905), which lists "the mistressing of a great house" beside housewifery, maternity and charity as one of the roles open to a woman. The idea is the head of a household at work, running the house and its staff. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Samuel Rutherford Crockett wrote Maid Margaret of Galloway. en.wiktionary.org
   • Maid Margaret of Galloway was first published in 1905. gutenberg.org
   • The book uses the gerund phrase and lists it alongside housewifery, maternity and charity; the passage belongs to the fictional narrator. gutenberg.org
10. 10
    wifenoundialectalScotlandcountable

    A woman who is married; someone's wife.

    Similarwife

    Note

    In Scotland the word can simply mean a wife, with nothing illicit about it. When several of the neighboring mistresses gather for an evening in Walter Scott's Guy Mannering (1815), they are the local wives, and the word is neither rude nor romantic. A minister's mistress, in this use, is his wife. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • In Scotland, mistress can mean a married woman or wife, without implying an illicit relationship. en.wiktionary.org
    • Walter Scott wrote Guy Mannering. en.wikipedia.org
    • Guy Mannering was first published in 1815, as its first-edition title page records. en.wikisource.org
    • The narrator describes neighboring wives assembling for an evening at Charlie’s Hope; the context explicitly distinguishes this meaning from the fashionable sexual sense. gutenberg.org
    • This Scottish usage includes calling a minister’s wife the mistress. electricscotland.com
11. 11
    bowlsnounobsolete

    In the game of bowls, the jack: the small ball that players aim their bowls at.

    Faith, keep a bachelor still, and go to bowls, sir, Follow your mistress there, and prick and save, sir; For other mistresses will make you a slave, sir

    c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley

    She took a bowl, drew up her skirt with her left hand, and rolled the weighted ball with a deft motion. It lightly kissed the mistress and stopped a few inches away.

    2001, Paul Hemenway Altrocchi, Most Greatly Lived

    Note

    Bowls once called its small target ball the mistress, and the name invited puns, since every player's bowl courts the same small target. In Middleton and Rowley's comedy Wit at Several Weapons, a bachelor is told to "follow your mistress" at bowls, because other mistresses will make him a slave. The usual name now is the jack. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Mistress was formerly a name for the jack in bowls. en.wiktionary.org
    • Players aim their bowls toward a shared smaller target ball called the jack. en.wikipedia.org
    • Wit at Several Weapons is a comedy attributed to Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. emed.folger.edu
    • The play puns on the bowls target and romantic mistresses: Sir Perfidious’s niece tells Sir Gregory Fopp to remain a bachelor and follow his mistress at bowls, warning that other mistresses will enslave him. The quoted wording is accurate in modernized spelling. gutenberg.org