coloneless

English

Etymology

From colonel +‎ -ess.

Noun

coloneless (plural colonelesses)

1. (dated) A female colonel.
   • 1852 October 10, “The British Lion”, “Woman’s Rights’ Women.—Liberty, Equality, Maternity.”, in The Era, volume XV, number 733, page 8:

     Suppose a Coloneless, or a Majoress, or a Captainess received orders to lead her men up to a dangerous post, under a heavy fire, how would she do it?

   • 1897 April 20, The Chicago Daily Tribune, volume LVI, number 110, page 6:

     But instead, the soldiery will fatten and grow sleek and strong and Commissary Sergeantess Morgan will be promoted and become a Lieutenantess, and then a Captainess, and afterwards a Majoress, and from that to Coloneless, and who knows but some time when she inspects the camp the voice of the sentry at post No. 1 will be heard calling as she approaches: “The Generaless of the Colorado Militia! Turn out the guard!”

   • 1932 March 4, “Kentucky Colonels; And Others”, in The Fresno Morning Republican, volume LXXXI, number 64, Fresno, Calif., page 4:

     If the governor of Kentucky is now making colonels by the wholesale, he is doing it “for a reason.” It is a mere unfortunate incident, for him, that he can not make colonelesses and majoresses. The grip of the appointive power on the women is even stronger than on the men.

   • 1955 December 1, J. A. C. Dunn, “Christmas On Franklin St.: Ragtime Drums”, in The Daily Tar Heel, number 59, Chapel Hill, N.C., page two:

     I mention with pride the fact that the sixth carload contained the honorary coloneless by the courtesy of whom I can honestly say I have been waved at by an honorary coloneless. At least I think it was me she waved at.

2. (dated) The wife of a colonel.
   • 1800, Secret Memoirs of the Court of Petersburg, pages 101–102:

     The wives of ſeveral colonels received the reports of the regiment, gave orders to the officers, employed them in particular ſervices, diſmiſſed them, and ſometimes appointed them. Mrs. Mellin, coloneleſs of the regiment of Tobolſk, commanded it with a truly martial haughtineſs, received the reports at her toilette, and regulated the mounting guard at Narva, while her good-natured huſband was employed elſewhere.

   • 1852, “Hamlet of Shshtchígry County”, in Memoirs of a Sportsman, pages 177–178:

     I one day called to mind a neighbouring family, with whom I was acquainted, consisting of the widow of a retired Colonel and her two daughters, ordered my drozhky harnessed, and drove off to my neighbours. That day must forever remain memorable to me; six months later, I married the Coloneless’ second daughter.

   • 1863, [Charles,] the Count Mac Donnell, transl., Diary of an Austrian Secretary of Legation at the Court of Czar Peter the Great, volume I, London: Bradbury & Evans, pages 108–190:

     The following liſt includes the principal gueſts:—[…] Colonel Chambers (Schambers) […]; the ladies were Madame de Mons, Mademoiſelle de Mons, the widow of General Menzies, with her daughter, Generaleſs (generaliſſa) de Gordon, Coloneleſs (coloneliſſa) de Blumberg and Gordon, with her daughter, Coloneleſs de Chambers (Schambers) and de Duitte, Madame de Knipper, Madame de Baudenan, Madame Palckin, Madame Colombin, the wife of Adam Weyd, Lady (domina) Erchel, Baroneſs de Borgſdorff, the Quaſconi, with her daughter, the wife of Mr. de Rouel, the two Baltes girls, Mr. Kellerman’s daughter, and Madame Hülſt’s daughter.

   • 1872, “The Toy Frigate. A Yarn picked up in the Model Dockyard.”, in Terrible Tales, page 91:

     […]; and as there was some perilous probability, in the event of the Colonel and Coloneless saying ‘no,’ of the Captain’s proposing to Miss De Fudgeville, orphan daughter and heiress of the late Rear-Admiral De Fudgeville, who, though she was as ugly as sin, and had something the matter with her spine, had a fortune of ninety thousand pounds, the gallant Colonel, late of the Heavies, and his wife, condescendingly agreed to accept Algernon as their son-in-law.

   • 1873 April, J. Redding Ware, “A Woman Will Be a Woman. A Duologue for a Drawing-Room.”, in The American Protestant; A Journal of Choice Literature, from the Best Magazines and Authors, Old and New, Philadelphia, Pa., pages 27–28:

     Colonel. On the contrary, it is just coming into view. As a bachelor, I like a couple of rooms; but as a married man, I must spread myself over a house. Lady Alice. Ha!—in other words, I’m to be turned out to make way for the Coloneless! Colonel. (Rising.) There, you have hit it! Lady Alice. I forgive you, in favor of your wife, though I own I do not like moving. I am quite a creature of habit, and I own I like the place. Colonel. (Leaning on the back of the Lady Alice’s chair.) Keep on liking it. Don’t move. Lady Alice. But the Coloneless? Colonel. She will be perfectly agreeable, provided— Lady Alice. Provided? Colonel. That you changed your name.

   • 1896, The Texas Medical Journal, a Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, volume XI, Austin, Tex.: F. E. Daniel, M.D., & S. E. Hudson, M.D., page 705:

     Our distinguished and genial friend, Col. Francis Coles Ford, M. D., Surgeon Medical Director 1st Division Texas Volunteer Guard, a leading physician of Nacogdoches, Texas, was married on 25th May (ult.) at Beaumont, Texas, to Miss Jean Coleman Thompson, of that city. The Journal extends its hearty congratulation to the Colonel and Coloneless and wishes them a whole lot of happiness.

   • 1966, The Scandinavian Times, page 21:

     The colonel’s spouse is oberstinde (coloneless).

   • 1969, Jennie A. McConnell, transl., Finnish Letters, Philadelphia, Pa.: Dorrance & Company, →LCCN, page 55:

     A woman whose daughter is married to a colonel, for instance, may ask “Has the keofverstinna (the coloneless) been here today?”

   • 1972 January 30, Charles M. Hills Jr., “When Heads Roll..”, in The Clarion-Ledger; Jackson Daily News, volume XIX, number 12, Jackson, Miss., section F, page 3:

     Speaking of heads rolling, two of the most shocked citizens in the state this week must have been the Waller Colonel and Coloneless who were among the 22 employes of the Manpower Division who lost their jobs in a mass firing by the incoming administraton.^[sic]

   • 2005 January 20, Eldon Advertiser, volume 111, number 44, page 1B:

     My father, the Colonel, and mom, the Coloneless helped inaugurate governor Dalton Monday.