churchwomann.
/ˈtʃəːtʃˌwʊmən/, U.S. /ˈtʃərtʃˌwʊmən/ A female member of a church; spec. a female member or supporter of the Church of England (now chiefly historical). Cf. churchman n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > [noun] > membership in > person having
brotherOE
sisterOE
church memberc1475
churchman1612
religionist1651
churchwoman1681
Zioner1681
churchite1791
bredren1809
co-religionist1842
co-religionary1861
triumphalist1967
1681 T. D'Urfey Sir Barnaby Whigg i. i. 4 I know she's honest, for she's a great Churchwoman.
1698 J. Crull Antient & Present State Muscovy I. xi. 298 If the Russian Women were as constant Church-Women as our Ladies, they would be obliged to build their Porches bigger than the Churches.
1722 D. Defoe Relig. Courtship App. i. 302 If I were a Church-woman, and my Mistress a Dissenter.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 131 Though she is a violent church-woman..she would have no objection, at present, to treat on the score of matrimony with an Anabaptist, Quaker, or Jew.
1803 Christian Observer Feb. 88/1 Strictly speaking, she is neither a Churchwoman nor a Dissenter.
1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind xxi. 169 A Church-woman ought not to suffer herself to become attached to a man outside her own Church.
1922 Playground Apr. 10/2 How shall the leisure time of life be spent?.. Churchmen and churchwomen will answer this question in only one way.
1980 J. M. S. Tompkins A. Radcliffe & her Infl. on Later Writers i. 3 His niece was too young to share in his liberal speculations in politics or religion; to the end of her life she was a devout Churchwoman and a firm Tory.
2001 J. Wolcott Catsitters xviii. 111 The V of her sweater plunged lower than I would have expected in a churchwoman.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1681