missus

See also: Missus

English

Alternative forms

• missis

Etymology

Representing a typical pronunciation of Mrs, a corrupted form of Mistress.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪs.əz/, /ˈmɪs.ɪz/, /ˈmɪs.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Homophones: misses, Misses
• Rhymes: -ɪsəz, -ɪsəs

Noun

missus (plural missuses)

1. (colloquial) Wife or girlfriend.

   Harry said he couldn't stop and chat because his missus wanted to go shopping.

   The missus has a list of chores for me to do this weekend.

   • 2006, “Littlest Things”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

     Sometimes I find myself sitting back and reminiscing / Especially when I have to watch other people kissing / And I remember when you started calling me your missus / All the play fighting, all the flirtatious disses

   • 2013, Jeff Jenkins, Watching The World, Andrews UK Limited, →ISBN:

     Imagine you have driven past a restaurant and thought to yourself, 'That would be a nice place to take the missus for an evening out,' and in no time at all you have found yourself flicking through the Yellow Pages in search of the phonenumber.

2. (colloquial) Term of address for a woman.

   'Scuse me missus, but your petticoat's showing.

   • 2013, C. S. Peters, On a Wing and a Prayer, page 161:

     Look ere Missus! Little Joey's me bruvva. E stays wiv me. We aint goin ter be split up.

Usage notes

The "wife or girlfriend" sense is most commonly used in phrases such as 'the missus or 'my missus'. Traditionally, "missus" refers only to someone's wife. More recently, it has come to be used by some people also to refer to a girlfriend.

Synonyms

• Mrs. (US, Canada)
• Mrs (UK)

Coordinate terms

• miss
• mister
• mistress
• madam
• maiden
• maid
• master
• matron

Translations

wife — see wife

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.sus/, [ˈmɪs̠ːʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmis.sus/, [ˈmisːus]

Etymology 1

mittō (“to send, to shoot, to let”) +‎ -tus.

Noun

missus m (genitive missūs); fourth declension

1. a sending, dispatching
2. a throwing, hurling, cast, shot
3. (in the public games) a round
4. (of a meal) a course

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	missus	missūs
genitive	missūs	missuum
dative	missuī	missibus
accusative	missum	missūs
ablative	missū	missibus
vocative	missus	missūs

Etymology 2

Perfect passive participle of mittō (“send, dispatch”)

Participle

missus (feminine missa, neuter missum); first/second-declension participle

1. sent, having been sent, caused to go, having been caused to go
   • 4th century, St Jerome, Vulgate, Tobit 3:25

     et missus est angelus Domini sanctus Rafahel ut curaret ambos quorum uno tempore fuerat oratio in conspectu Domini recitata

     And the holy angel of the Lord, Raphael was sent to heal them both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight of the Lord.

2. let go, having been let go, released, having been released, discharged, having been discharged
3. thrown, having been thrown, hurled, having been hurled, cast, having been cast, launched, having been launched
4. sent out, having been sent out, emitted, having been emitted
5. uttered, having been uttered
6. dismissed, having been dismissed, disregarded, having been disregarded
7. put to an end, having been put to an end

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	missus	missa	missum		missī	missae	missa
genitive	missī	missae	missī		missōrum	missārum	missōrum
dative	missō	missae	missō		missīs
accusative	missum	missam	missum		missōs	missās	missa
ablative	missō	missā	missō		missīs
vocative	misse	missa	missum		missī	missae	missa

Related terms

• missa
• missiō

Descendants

• Catalan: mes
• English: mess
• French: mis
• Old French: mets, mes
• Italian: messo

References

• “missus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “missus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• missus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• missus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
    
  • correspondence: litterae missae et allatae
    
  • (ambiguous) a letter to Atticus: epistula ad Atticum data, scripta, missa or quae ad A. scripta est