mentress

English

Etymology

From mentor +‎ -ess.

Noun

mentress (plural mentresses)

Alternative form of mentoress
- 1954, Benny A. Feria, Filipino Son, Boston, Massachusetts: the Meador Press, page 192:
  “Jane Addams had lived in that higher dreamland of the future, ahead of her country women, ahead even of those who assumed to be the mentress of her people, as does every noble soul that labors “to make the bounds of freedom wider yet.”
- 1957, A. L., Jr. Soens, Criticism of Formal Satire in the Renaissance, pages 104, 123, 260:
  […] makes some comments about his mentress "Satura" which imply critical distinctions. […] His Varronian satire is a philosophical dialogue, in the Socratic tradition of instruction; his mentress is "Satyra." […] Philosophy, for instance, instead of being the mentress of the satirist, became a shadow cast only in the light of an understanding of the distortion of tradition that took place in the writings of the critics.
- 1992, Ms., page 56:
  “Grow up: I have this theory, hey, about why women don’t need mentors.” / “Mentresses …” / “Men-tors. Mentor was a person’s name. Can’t say … I don’t know … […]
- 1988, Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye, published 1989, →ISBN, “Part Four: Deadly Nightshade”:
  “Did you have any female mentors?” she asks. / “Female what?” / “Like, teachers, or other woman painters you admired.” / “Shouldn’t that be mentresses?” I say nastily. “There weren’t any. My teacher was a man.”
- 2004, Gillian Proctor, Mary Beth Napier, Encountering Feminism: Intersections between feminism and the Person-Centred Approach, PCCS Books, →ISBN, page 57:
  I also hope very much that they will find en route their own mentors and mentresses in their quest for peace, justice and equality between men and women around the globe.