| 释义 |
conductress|kənˈdʌktrɪs|
[fem. of conductor: cf. F. conducteresse (15th c.): see -ess.]
1. a. A female conductor, leader, or guide.
1624Ford Sun's Darling iv. i, Be my conductress: I'll fly this place in secret. 1827Moore Epicur. x. (1839) 90, I felt the pace of my conductress quicken. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. viii, My young conductress locked the gate.
fig.1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. i. iv, Theology is the best conductress. 1809W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXVII. 456 Can't advance further than his conductress Providence permits.
†b. A female carrier. Obs.
1772Town & Country Mag. 123 The conductress of the parcel.
2. A female manager or director. † Formerly, also, a woman who conducted the education and ‘breeding’ of any one, a governess.
1760Foote Minor iii. i, The mistress..professed the same principles with my infamous conductress. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. II. 10 June, Let. iii, Your aunt is not the sole conductress of this machine. 1801M. Edgeworth Mlle. Panache (1832) 273 The baleful influence of lady Augusta's attendant and conductress. 1861tr. Humboldt in Sat. Rev. 18 May 513, I receive letters..from aspiring poets..conductresses of benevolent institutions.
3. A female bus- or tram-conductor (cf. conductor 7).
1885H. James Little Tour in France xxiv. 155 A kind of bastard tramcar..under the supervision, not of a conductor, but of a conductress. 1917Flight 25 Jan. 88/2, I had occasion to board a 'bus, and noticed that the conductress had decorated herself up to the highest degree. 1943Times 7 Sept. 6/7 The bus started without any signal from the conductress. |