α. late Middle English Mres, late Middle English–1500s Mres., 1500s–1600s Mris., 1600s Mris (without point).
β. 1500s mrs, 1500s 1700s– Mrs (without point), 1500s– Mrs..
Mrsn.1
/ˈmɪsᵻz/, U.S. /ˈmɪsᵻz/, /ˈmɪsᵻs/ 1.
a. A title of courtesy prefixed to the surname of a married woman having no higher or professional title, often with her first name, or that of her husband, interposed (also formerly prefixed to the first name of her husband with omission of the surname).Though used to distinguish gentlewomen in former times the title is now applied without discrimination. In British use, the insertion of a woman's first name after Mrs (as ‘Mrs Mary Smith’) used to occur chiefly in legal documents, cheques, etc., and was otherwise rare, the normal practice being to insert the husband's name (as ‘Mrs John Smith’) when distinction was needed. Both styles are now commonly used. In England Mrs is sometimes used before a title of office; lady High Court Judges, for example, are styled ‘Mrs Justice ——’ Cf. Mr n. 1a.Mrs Thing: see thing n.1 16a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous forms of address or title > [noun] > title > for a woman > for married woman
damec1300
mistress?c1450
Mrs1485
goodwife1497
goody1559
metreza1604
miss1770
ma1951
α.
β. 1574 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (1911) 447 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 5567) XXVII. 1 To Mrs. Banyster for a swoninge water for my Mrs...vs.1625 Parish Reg. St. Margaret's, Durham Mrs. Elsebeth Hall..dyd give..for the use of the poor..a cofyn clothe.1647 Moderate Intelligencer No. 129. Mrs. Car being a second wife of the said Mr Car.1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 73 I..drest me up in the Habit of a Widow, and call'd myself Mrs. Flanders.1794 C. Pigott Female Jockey Club 54 Yet Mrs Bull is still tenacious of the honour of her master.a1817 J. Austen Persuasion (1818) III. vi. 103 I shall tell you, Miss Anne..that I have no very good opinion of Mrs. Charles's nursery-maid. View more context for this quotation1842 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 18 Feb. (1954) I. 126 I imagine, from a message my sister Mrs. Isaac told me of, that you had the idea that I was at Griff.1857 C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace II. vi. 81 Is it in the nature of things that she should live in such society as Mrs. Walby's and Mrs. Richardson's? People who call her Mrs. James!1870 M. Bridgman Robert Lynne II. iii. 66 Mrs. This and Mrs. That..approved of the..friends of their respective husbands.1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xxxiii. 272 Mrs. Charlie is expecting her fourth.1953 A. Christie Pocket Full of Rye iv. 28 ‘Who was at breakfast?’ ‘Mrs. Fortescue, Miss Fortescue, Mrs. Val Fortescue... Mrs. Val and Miss Fortescue always eat a hearty breakfast.’1991 Brit. Jrnl. Social Work Aug. 321 An enquiry, chaired by Mrs Justice Butler Sloss, was set up in July 1987.1485 Churchwardens' Accts. St. Mary at Hill, London in J. Nichols Illustr. Antient Times Eng. (1797) 114 Item, a pyx clothe of sipers frenged with grene sylke and red,..of Mres. Sucklyng's gyfte.
1485 Churchwardens' Accts. St. Mary at Hill, London in J. Nichols Illustr. Antient Times Eng. (1797) 115 Item, a corporas case of nedyll work.., of the gyfte of Mres Julian Roche.
1612 J. Donne Lett. (1651) 75 I hear from England of many censures of my book, of Mris. Drury.
1643 Rec. Colony & Plantation New Haven (1857) I. 94 Mris Eldreds out lotts.
b. A title prefixed to the name of an unmarried lady or girl; = miss n.2 2a. Now rare except as a title of courtesy applied, with or without inclusion of the first name, to elderly unmarried ladies (this use seems to have arisen in the late 18th cent.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous forms of address or title > [noun] > title > for a woman > young or unmarried
mistress1474
Mrs1550
miss1667
1550 in W. H. Stevenson Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (Hist. MSS Comm. 1911) 401 For a payre of shoez for Mres. Margarett, vijd.
1552 in W. H. Stevenson Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (Hist. MSS Comm. 1911) 404 For a hede lace and veluper for Mris. Margarett..xijd.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxxv. 40 An ill-favoured quarrell..about Mrs. Baker, the Mayd of honor.
1703 S. Centlivre Stolen Heiress iii. ii. sig. G2 Come Mrs. [sc. the speaker's daughter] I suppose you had a hand in this wise Plot.
1707 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 17 Mrs. Molly Levins..Which Mrs. Levins is a Beautifull young Brisk Lady of about 16 or 17 Years of Age.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle I. i. 3 His only sister Mrs. Grizzle..was now in the thirtieth year of her maidenhood.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1781 II. 386 The company was..Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Sir Joshua Reynolds [etc.].
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1781 II. 387 Mrs. Carter said, ‘He was a bad man.’
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xiv. 231 Her father's nearest female relation, Mrs Margaret Bertram of Singleside, an old unmarried lady.
1840 Defoe's Col. Jack in Misc. Wks. V. 342 Mrs. Veal was a maiden gentlewoman.
1930 V. Sackville-West Edwardians i. 20 Mrs. Wickenden the housekeeper..was not married, and her title was bestowed only by courtesy.
c. colloquial. In substitution for the name of a married woman (esp. when mentioned in conjunction or comparison with her own husband); a wife.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife
wifeeOE
womanc1275
peerc1330
spousessc1384
ladyc1390
good lady1502
girl?a1513
spousage1513
little lady1523
the weaker vessel1526
companion1535
wedlock1566
Mrs1572
dame1574
rib?1590
feme1595
fathom1602
feme covert1602
shrew1606
wife of one's bosom1611
kickie-wickiea1616
heifer1616
sposa1624
bosom-partner1633
goodwife1654
little woman1715
squaw1767
the Mrs1821
missus1823
maw1826
lady wife1840
tart1864
mistress1873
mama1916
ball and chain1921
trouble and strife1929
old boot1958
1572 in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (Hist. MSS Comm. 1911) 422 For manuschriste and other nessaryes delyvered to my Mrs. in the tyme of her sycknes..xxxs.
1657 Court Proc. in J. H. Pleasants Arch. Maryland (1937) LIV. 120 My Maister tooke my Mrs by the birth of the bed with boath hands & puld her upon the ground.
1746 G. Williamson Diary 25 May in Arthuret & Longtown (1997) 65 Wm. Brown abroad wh. his Mrs.
1765 D. Garrick Let. July (1963) II. 467 Shakespear's been too rank for her delicate nostrils, or (as Mrs calls them) nose-holes.
1792 N. Woodforde Diary 15 Jan. in Woodforde Papers & Diaries (1932) ii. 39 I was very sorry to hear this Evening by Mr. Custance's Cook that Mrs. has a return of her complaint.
1913 R. Brooke Let. 22 Nov. (1968) 535 He passed through Fiji lately... Mrs, I gather, is not with him.
1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds vi. 82 Paul Taretan is taking ‘three girls from totally different environments’, and ‘Mrs.’ has selected one rather beastly little boy.
1959 F. Astaire Steps in Time (1960) xxv. 287 I walked back with him to his box, where his Mrs. was waiting.
1974 J. Montgomerie Implosion x. 67 Another picture of Mrs., side-view.
d. Prefixed to the military or professional title of the woman's husband (with or without his surname following).
ΚΠ
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park III. vii. 165 Her good godmother, old Mrs. Admiral Maxwell. View more context for this quotation
1869 ‘Rose Rampant’ Let. in S. R. Hole Bk. Roses x. 143 They remind me of..dreary dining-rooms belonging to dentists, where, surveying..the photographic album, and wondering over the portrait of Mrs. Dentist how that pretty face could have wed with forceps, lancet, and file.
1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iv. ii. 236 Leonora had singularly few intimates. She had none at all, with the exception of the Mrs Colonel Whelen, who had advised her about the affair with La Dolcequita.
1981 C. V. Woodward Mary Chestnut's Civil War p. xxxviii She had advice from the Philadelphia dressmaker, who knew ‘just what a Senator's wife ought to have..at the height of balls and parties.’.. After her long rustication, Mrs. Senator Chestnut must have relished the prospect.
e. colloquial. the Mrs: a wife; esp. one's own wife. Cf. missus n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > [noun] > those in authority > person in authority > woman
ladyeOE
mistressa1375
goodwifea1533
forewoman1709
padrona1744
queen bee1790
bibi1816
the Mrs1821
society > authority > [noun] > those in authority > person in authority > master of servant > woman
mistressa1393
metreza1604
miss1606
missus1790
the Mrs1821
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife
wifeeOE
womanc1275
peerc1330
spousessc1384
ladyc1390
good lady1502
girl?a1513
spousage1513
little lady1523
the weaker vessel1526
companion1535
wedlock1566
Mrs1572
dame1574
rib?1590
feme1595
fathom1602
feme covert1602
shrew1606
wife of one's bosom1611
kickie-wickiea1616
heifer1616
sposa1624
bosom-partner1633
goodwife1654
little woman1715
squaw1767
the Mrs1821
missus1823
maw1826
lady wife1840
tart1864
mistress1873
mama1916
ball and chain1921
trouble and strife1929
old boot1958
society > authority > rule or government > rule or government of family or tribe > head of family, tribe, or clan > [noun] > head of household > woman
ladyeOE
house lady?c1225
housewifec1225
goodwifec1275
mistressa1375
hussy1530
madam1647
goodya1680
housemistress1689
the Mrs1821
housemother1822
miesiesa1931
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife > one's wife
peculiar1615
old woman1668
old girl1745
the Mrs1821
old lady1836
old Dutcha1889
duchess1909
ever-loving1939
her indoors1979
1821 W. Sewall Diary 25 Oct. (1931) 81/2 Arrived at Mrs. Winter's a little before sunset. I found the Mrs. rather indisposed with ague and fever.
1893 J. Cox Diary (MS, Alexander Turnbull Libr., Wellington, N.Z.) 26 Mar. Bidwell was away when we arrived and the Mrs growled a good deal.
1920 R. Lardner in Sat. Evening Post 27 Nov. 42/4 I and the Mrs. and Kate was the only ones there in evening clothes.
1937 Amer. Speech 12 103 The farmer will often refer to his wife as the Mrs. and he commonly addresses her as Wife.
1973 Philadelphia Inquirer 7 Oct. (Today Suppl.) 42/3 You know, when I go home, the Mrs. says to me: ‘Well, what happened tonight, night clerk?’
1993 Daily Star 17 Sept. 11/3 Me an' the Mrs. 'ad a night in front of the telly last night.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous forms of address or title > [noun] > for woman
mistress?a1425
your (also occasionally thy) mistress-ship?1461
sir1578
goodwife1593
metresse1600
metreza1604
sirrah1604
mistershipa1616
Mrsa1637
ma'am1671
citess1793
Mis'1835
mem1890
?c1510 Love Feigned & Unfeigned in Coll. Malone Soc. (1907) I. i. 20 God save ye my mrs god save ye this blessed day.
1574 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (1911) 447 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 5567) XXVII. 1 To Mrs. Banyster for a swoninge water for my Mrs..vs.
c1600 in S. M. Ffarington Farington Papers (1856) 141 Right worshipfull and my singular good Mr. and Mrs.
1615 Sir G. Helwys in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (modernized text) (1899) I. 161 A man of Mrs. Turner's was sent..to meet his Mrs. at Ware.
a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady i. Chorus 23 in Wks. (1640) III [If he could] beget him a reputation, and marry an Emperours Daughter for his Mrs.
a1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd ii. ii. 42 in Wks. (1640) III I give 'hem yee; As presents Mrs . View more context for this quotation
1677 W. Hubbard Narr. Troubles with Indians New-Eng. ii. 40 Knowing enough before of their Villanyes, how well soever her Mrs. (that was more versed in the Trade of the Indians) might think of them.
1679 Tryals & Condemnation Jesuits 80 Pray Mrs. what did that Minister say to you..concerning Mr. Oates?
3. A woman usually addressed as ‘Mrs’, a married woman. Also: the word ‘Mrs’ as a title.
ΚΠ
1745 H. Walpole Let. to H. Mann 11 May Just as a woman is not called Mrs. till she is married.
1766 Ld. Chesterfield Let. Nov. (1932) (modernized text) VI. 2777 If she is Mrs. with a surname, she is above the livery, and belongs to the upper servants.
1849 C. Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. I. ix. 162 The title of Madam is sometimes given here [i.e. in Boston], and generally..in the South, to a mother whose son has married, and the daughter-in-law is then called Mrs.
1937 A. Christie Murder in Mews v. 38 The way that Mrs. Stevens goes on—if she is a Mrs. at all which I doubt.
1988 I. Banks Walking on Glass 55 A Mrs! She was married! He couldn't believe it.
Compounds
Mrs B. n. colloquial = Mrs Beeton n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > authority on cooking
Mrs Beeton1891
Mrs B.1970
1970 Times 9 Feb. 8/6 Explains Ita Jones, Light's switched-on Mrs B.: ‘Though serving up this food may blow some minds, remember that you eat the animal because you love it.’
Mrs Beeton n. [ < the name of Isabella Mary Beeton (1836–65), author of The Book of Household Management (1861)] an authority on cooking and domestic subjects; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook > [noun] > authority on cooking
Mrs Beeton1891
Mrs B.1970
1891 Littell's Living Age 191 28 The one really beautiful book that he has left us is a cookery-book—the ‘Mrs. Beeton’ of an earlier day.
1960 Listener 7 Jan. 18/2 The modern trick, I am told by Dr. Spock and the other Mrs. Beetons of child care, is not to show anxiety to children.
1991 Parents (BNC) Mar. Very much the Mrs Beeton of childbirth, he gives sound and practical advice.
Mrs Dale n. [ < the name of the eponymous character in Mrs. Dale's Diary, a BBC radio serial broadcast from 1948 to 1969] chiefly British a conventional middle-class woman.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > [noun] > middle class or bourgeoisie > woman
bourgeoise1772
petite bourgeoise1846
Mrs Dale1954
1954 A. Melville Simon & Laura in Plays of Year XI. 36 You probably get the idea it's to be a sort of TV ‘Mrs Dale’. It's not: we want interesting people who meet other interesting people.
Mrs Dale-ish adj. conventionally middle-class.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > [adjective] > middle-class or bourgeois > woman
bourgeoise1774
Mrs Dale-ish1961
1961 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Nov. 851/1 The setting is suburban, even Mrs. Dale-ish.
Mrs Grundy n. see Grundy n.3
Mrs Lo n. see Lo n.2
ΚΠ
1715 S. Centlivre Gotham Election i. v. 63 [To the Midwife] And you too, Mrs. Midnight; kiss me, you old Jade you—.
1778 H. Brooke Coll. of Pieces IV. i. iii. 102 Mrs. Midnight enters in great hurry.
Mrs Mop n. (also Mrs Mopp) [ < the name of a charwoman in the BBC radio comedy series I.T.M.A. (‘It's that Man Again’), broadcast from 1941 to 1945] chiefly British (a nickname for) a charwoman, a cleaning lady.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning house > [noun] > one who
womanOE
scouring womana1627
schorerc1638
house cleaner1695
charmaid1882
spring cleaner1883
charman1888
charlady1895
char-boy1902
char1906
Putzfrau1906
chargirl1932
Mrs Mop1948
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [noun] > servant who lives out > charwoman
charwoman1596
schorerc1638
femme de ménage1826
char1906
daily1933
obliger1941
Mrs Mop1948
1948 J. F. Wolfenden Public Schools To-day v. 99 A great deal of the welfare..of a boarding school depends upon the unsung ‘warrant officers and N.C.O.s’, from the school messenger to Mrs. Mop.
1950 A. Christie Murder is Announced vii. 60 Our Mrs Mopp says he came from one of the big hotels.
1956 ‘A. Gilbert’ Riddle of Lady x. 145 A machine in a Mrs Mopp apron.
1992 Independent 20 Jan. 19/8 Each buyer will get the services of a cleaning lady free for a year. Sales manager David Bell is confident his ‘Mrs Mops’ will do the trick.
Mrs Next-Door n. see next door n. 1b.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
MRSn.2
/ˌɛmɑːrˈɛs/, U.S. /ˌɛmɑrˈɛs/ North American. humorous.
More fully degree of MRS, MRS degree. Marriage, or a husband, humorously regarded as a qualification attained by a woman attending university, college, etc.
ΚΠ
1860 Michigan Jrnl. Educ. 7 284 School-ma'am's commence their work at the age of sixteen or eighteen, and continue it till eighteen or twenty years of age; when they have just begun to understand the business. Then they graduate, and receive the honorary degree of Mrs.
1900 Puritan Oct. 12/2 I'll woo your Otto for you, and get you your wedding for a graduation present. How would you like the degree of M.R.S.?
1948 Life 10 May 47 (advt.) During courtship, Kit and Jimmy studied together nightly. Received coveted diploma same day, at Tulane. now, Kit has even more precious parchment—her ‘M-R-S’ degree!
1983 Los Angeles Dec. 282/1 She dated him all through college. Graduated with her M.R.S. and they moved right into Hancock Park.
2001 D. B. Mason Last Summer at Barebones (2002) 77 ‘And how did you meet your husband?’ Alice lit another cigarette. ‘Here in Toronto. At U of T.’ ‘There to get your MRS degree, eh?’
2005 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 17 Mar. d2/2 They met in college, where Mimi admits she went to ‘get her MRS’.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11485
n.21860