MISTRESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mistress mean? 

• MISTRESS (noun)
  The noun MISTRESS has 3 senses:

1. an adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man

2. a woman schoolteacher (especially one regarded as strict)

3. a woman master who directs the work of others

  Familiarity information: MISTRESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISTRESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fancy woman; kept woman; mistress

Hypernyms ("mistress" is a kind of...):

lover (a significant other to whom you are not related by marriage)

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mistress"):

concubine; courtesan; doxy; paramour (a woman who cohabits with an important man)

Instance hyponyms:

Braun; Eva Braun (the German mistress of Adolf Hitler (1910-1945))

Delilah ((Old Testament) the Philistine mistress of Samson who betrayed him by cutting off his hair and so deprived him of his strength)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A woman schoolteacher (especially one regarded as strict)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

mistress; schoolma'am; schoolmarm; schoolmistress

Hypernyms ("mistress" is a kind of...):

school teacher; schoolteacher (a teacher in a school below the college level)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A woman master who directs the work of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("mistress" is a kind of...):

employer (a person or firm that employs workers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mistress"):

chatelaine (the mistress of a chateau or large country house)

 Context examples 

I should have confided in him: he would never have forced me to be his mistress.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I am to be mistress of it, and manage it as I like, with plenty of servants, so I never need work a bit.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The girl anxiously replied that her mistress was very seldom out now, even in a carriage; that she kept her room; that she saw no company, but would see me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Till she had made herself mistress of its contents, however, she could have neither repose nor comfort; and with the sun's first rays she was determined to peruse it.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The servant of Mrs. Rushworth, the mother, had exposure in her power, and supported by her mistress, was not to be silenced.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Thirteen years had seen her mistress of Kellynch Hall, presiding and directing with a self-possession and decision which could never have given the idea of her being younger than she was.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Marie Devine, the maid, was as popular as her mistress.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At last, as they drew near the end of their journey, this treacherous servant threatened to kill her mistress if she ever told anyone what had happened.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was true; Toto had fallen down beside his little mistress.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

My fair lady and mistress, he wrote, God hath had us in His keeping, and my lord is well and in good cheer.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)