governessdomn.

1858 C. G. F. Gore Heckington III. 275 Poor Miss Strickney..was too well broken into the subordination of oppressed governessdom, not to lay down her arms without a murmur.

1866 Q. Rev. No. 238. 515 If but a few such women would combine here and there to elevate the tone of governess~dom.

1906 ‘M. Maartens’ Healers xx. 200 A man could do worse for the girl he loves than to rescue her from governessdom.

1989 A. N. Wilson Eminent Victorians 72 The love-misery came to her [sc. Charlotte Brontë] in Belgium where, very enterprisingly, she had gone with Emily to escape the tedium of governessdom.