monitress

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English

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Etymology

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From monitor +‎ -ess.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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monitress (plural monitresses)

  1. (now rare) A female mentor or advisor; a female observer. [from 18th c.]
    • 1820, Mary Shelley, Mathilda, published 1959:
      Diana filled up all his heart: he felt as if by his union with her he had received a new and better soul. She was his monitress as he learned what were the true ends of life.
    • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
      Maisie could feel his monitress stiffen almost with anguish against the increase of his spell and then hurl herself as a desperate defence from it into the quite confessed poorness of violence, of iteration.
  2. (dated) A female monitor, or school leader. [from 18th c.]
    • 1922, Angela Brazil, Monitress Merle:
      Miss Mitchell would certainly be most relieved to have a monitress who was capable of organising the juniors at games.

Anagrams

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